It's now been 8 weeks since Birdie was born, and I wanted to share some of the materials we've been using with him.
The Munari Mobile and Octahedron Mobile
Before Birdie was born, we made a small movement area for him in our bedroom that could be packed away at a moment's notice, since mobiles are incredibly fragile and attractive to big-brother hands. We attached a small lightweight mirror to the wall in our bedroom and a hook high on the wall to secure the mobile when it isn't in use. In an ideal world the mirror would be larger and of higher quality, but we are renting our house and moving soon, so we needed something that would be easy to uninstall.
Birdie started observing the Munari mobile in the first week after he was born. Some days he would look at it for a minute or two, but other days he'd wiggle about excitedly for up to 10 minutes. When I noticed his attention waning, around 6 weeks old, I swapped it out for the Octahedron mobile - one of my favourites. Around this time, he also started to notice himself in the mirror and respond by wiggling and hitting the mirror with his fist.
Other materials and toys
Downstairs we have a wooden play gym that we hang other mobiles and toys off of - a skwish, a wooden ring, and more recently a bell/toy combination similar to this one. He has the tendency to favour looking in one direction so we try to put the toys off centre, to draw his attention the other way. Just yesterday Birdie started to try to bat at the skwish, so this week I'll be adding a hanging bell and some other tactile mobiles into the rotation.
We have a very simple bouncer chair with no toys or movement that we are using for a few moments here and there throughout the day, usually when I'm preparing bottles of expressed milk, helping A with something in the kitchen, or when Birdie wants to play directly after feeding and can't lay flat. Periodically we use our Tana Hoban Black and White book, but he's not showing the interest in it that A did at this age. No matter what activity he's engaged in - nappy changing, watching A dance about, resting - I try to observe Birdie to see when he's finished and not end the activity prematurely.
I've been thinking about this line from The Joyful Child: "Each rattle, grasping toy, toy, puzzle, and other piece of material has been chosen for a specific purpose. It is up to the adult to watch carefully to see that the challenge is not too easy as to be boring, and not too difficult to cause frustration and giving up." (Susan Stephenson, The Joyful Child Birth to Three Years). I don't want to leave toys in the rotation too long and have him become bored, although he has access to so much more than A did at this age - the excitement of an older brother, a child-centred home full of colour and sound, and being a watchful participant in our daily rhythm.