You big baby!

Ah to go back to the good old days. That is, infacy - when you were carried like Cleopatra everywhere you went, spoon-fed your favourite dishes (strained beets - hooray!) and presented with an obscene amount of gifts, arranged around you just so.

Parents attending the Baby Show at Birmingham's NEC from today until Sunday can get a babe's eye view of the world by sitting in an oversized bouncy chair or kicking back on a king-sized playmat, complete with dangling toys. Fisher-Price created the adult-sized versions to give parents an insight into their baby's world (the pieces are replicas of Fisher-Price items you can actually buy - imagine that). "Lights, sounds and actions are not just for show, they play an important part in babies’ development and, through giving these items a try themselves, we hope parents will come to understand the importance of these aspects," says Dr Kathleen Alfano of the Fisher-Price Play Lab.

Since the onslaught at the Baby Show of a mind-numbing array of bottles, cutesy baby clothes, feeding geegaws and nursery accessories eventually turns grown-ups into babbling, drooling heaps, it's perfectly conceived. I'm just praying that next year there's a giant baby sling, a massive doorway jumper and acres of changing tables, just in case.

The Baby Show, NEC, Birmingham, 16-18 May, 2008

Comments

[IRISHMUM]

I too sucked my thumb for a long time and similarly have very happy memories of sucking my thumb reading a book and stroking my face with a little furry duck- which eventually became completely unfurry and was christened "the rodent".All our children have had dummies and because I remeber the comfort it never bothered me. My husband doesn't get it though.

[Gipsy]

MoT - that's why I don't have a problem with dummies or thumb sucking. Sucking is about the only truly pleasurable thing that a baby has control over.

J - wow! brilliant! I wish I had that memory!

Annamac - oh ouch. One of my most vivid early memories comes from when I was 4 and I got a chunk of glass stuck in my leg. That was painful and I remember the pain vividly!

[Annamac]

My earliest memory is probably of when I fell down the stairs at a bit less than 2 years old. I don't remember it being painful; the memory is just of the stair carpet going round and round...

[J]

my earliest memory is bewing carried in to meet my new sister. She was born when I was 1 year and 13 days old. I remember the whole conversation between my parents (it was about giving her my pink teddy, fume, fume).

Being carried at that age feels exactly like flying. I think thats where flying dreams come from, later in life.

[mumoftwo]

I'm amazed you can remember that, Gipsy! I sucked my thumb til quite late (7 or 8 years old, perhaps older). I remember sucking my thumb whilst reading books and stroking my nose at the same time. It was incredibly relaxing, which is when my two were born, I just let them suck their thumbs from day one, despite all the warnings about buck teeth and pacifiers/dummies being easier to remove. They both only suck their thumbs last thing at night, or when very tired, which is a great 'indicator' to get them to have a nap or a cuddle, but not really for comfort other than that...so perhaps will save on the dentist bills...

[Gipsy]

Wow MoT you can remember what that was like/how it felt? I have lots of memories from when I was a toddler, but none of them about about sucking thumbs sadly.

I do remember quite vividly being pushed about in a pram facing towards my mum and absolutely hating it. So loved the stroller when I could see where I was going.

(the pram was one of those really old perambulator things, with my younger sister lying flat inside, and me on a seat supermarket trolley style.)

[mumoftwo]

LOL, J. It's not the same though, I have tried...

[j]

I sucked my thumb giving birth... who says you have to give up?

[mumoftwo]

The thing I miss from when I was little is sucking my thumb. It was the most comforting, lovely feeling ever...can't pay for that to come back, sadly.

[meg]

every so often i wish i could get pushed round in a buggy and sleep whenever i wanted. this fantasy also involves gin in a sippy cup though, so maybe it's best left unfulfilled

[Kieransmum]

Oh jeez, you mean that is only for seeing at the show? You can't buy it?

[M]

Me too, Bushra! In fact, I'm thinking career change. I want to ask Dr Alfano if I can road test super-size baby gear all day long at the Fisher Price lab! It sounds like Willy Wonka's factory with no tooth decay. The downside would be the other commuters reaction to me catching the train in my babygro and padder bootees.

[bushra]

i so need one of those. minus the funny animal/sea sounds.