Babypalooza 2016

I can't believe it's taken me so long to get this post up!  I am so lame!  Anyways, the last big event at Camp Campbell before school started was called BABYPALOOZA 2016.  This was a day totally focused on Cody and his baby friends.  I should warn you now that you are about to engage in cuteness overload...enjoy!

A few weeks ago, Clif and I went to beautiful wedding and celebrated our dear friends, Toby and Chanel's nuptials.  At the reception, we had a blast.  This was a big date night for a lot of us since some of us, including Clif and myself, left our kids at home with sitters for the first time in what felt like an eternity.  Naturally, there was some lots of wine sipped.  Maybe it was the relaxation caused by a night off, the conversations with friends, or the wine, but at this wedding, I had an epiphany; we needed to have a big get together with tons of baby centered activities, and thus, Babypalooza was born!

Luckily, the next day I remembered my idea.  I looked at my calendar, chose a day I knew Colt would be with his grandparents, set up an invitation on Facebook, and scoured Pinterest for baby friendly activities.  By the end of the day, I already had five guests confirmed to attend and a bunch of ideas in my head!

I'll be honest, Camp Campbell has been very focused on Colt.  My only excuse is that he is behind, and I need to do whatever I can to catch him up to speed.  I have been feeling guilty about not planning more activities for Cody during this time.  Nobody tells you how much guilt comes with motherhood...  I always try to keep Cody engaged, and I know that he's been exposed to way more language than Colt was at his age because he is listening to us practice all the time, but I had envisioned him participating in at least one activity a week and that just hasn't happened.  When I thought up Babypalooza, I decided to cram as many experiences I could into a three hour time period in an attempt to make up for this oversight.

Sensory play is one of the best ways for little ones to learn about the world.  They experience new sensations that encourage exploration and independence.  Once I decided on the sensory play theme, Pinterest provided so many wonderful ideas.  It was difficult to choose, but here is what I came up with.

Board books and toys: We have TONS of touch and feel board books at the house.  I went through all of them and put the best ones out for the littles (and their mommies) to read.  I think it goes without saying that these promote literacy and develop vocabulary.  I also put out the baby friendly toys and seats.

Edible sandbox: I found a variety of different ways to do this on Pinterest, but in the end I settled on using instant mashed potatoes from the dollar store as my "sand."  I simply filled up a plastic tub with the potatoes and added some fun colored beach toys for the babies to play with.  If the babies put the "sand" in their mouth, it was no big deal; in fact, I think it was part of the fun!  I know our dog, Tex, really liked this station.

Water play: I filled a few baking sheets with about an inch of water and added some toys.  The water spilled pretty quickly, but not before we had fun splashing around!

Spaghetti bin: When I saw this idea, I knew we had to do it! Again, I bought cheap spaghetti from the dollar store, busted out with a large bin, and filled that bad boy up with food, toys, and a baby!  The kids had a lot of fun taking turns.  You could see how thrilled they were when they first started eating the slimy spaghetti and their moms didn't rush over to pull it out of their hands.  They were experiencing a freedom they've never had before!

Sensory bottles: I asked the moms to bring over a water bottle to create these.  I purchased some glitter, buttons, and beads from the dollar store.  We used a recipe that called for 1/2 corn syrup 1/2 water.  I don't know that I would use this recipe again because it seemed like all of our beads and glitter just sat at the top.  I may need to search around for an alternative.  Even though our bottle didn't turn out exactly as I hoped, it has turned out to be one of Colt and Cody's favorite toys.  Now that Cody's crawling, he pushes the bottle around and chases after it.

While we were playing, I had Pandora going on my phone, so we could listen to children's music and Disney classics (my personal fave).  It was so amazing to watch the moms interact with their babies at all the different stations.  The kids were truly engaged with their parents, the activities, and each other.  They really seemed to enjoy seeing the other babies playing.

Overall, I think the babies had a ton of fun, and I know I had a great time visiting with the other moms!  I'm thinking I'll have to do another one of these days during my Christmas vacation!  I know Cody had a great time because after everyone left, he drank a bottle, and passed out for the night.