Jump Jump Jumperoo!
Once I got rid of the Bumbo seat when Little Man was almost five months old, I felt at a bit of a loss as to what to sit him into. Charlie and I spent some time wandering through Smyths toy store looking for inspiration. A walker wasn’t an option for us – we just don’t have the space. When we spotted the Fisher Price Jumperoo, we thought it was a great idea. It’s an activity centre and bouncer in one. The seat swivels 360 degrees, allowing baby to spin around to play with all the little animal toys.
When we first got it, Little Man was still a bit small for it. We had to put cushions underneath him to help his feet reach the ground. At first he couldn’t bounce in it. He’d try one bounce, and get a fright and stop again. But within a few days, there was no stopping him! As soon as I’d pop him in the Jumperoo, off he’d go, and he just had so much fun! Here’s a video of him soon after we got it: Check out those feet!.
It took about two months before Little Man discovered that the seat could swivel – I think he wasn’t strong enough to move it before that. That gave the Jumperoo a whole new lease of life. He had so much fun moving from one toy to the next on it.
When Little Man was a bit bigger, I actually felt he started to like the Jumperoo too much! He never wanted to come out of it. I was worried about it delaying his development in terms of crawling or walking, so I tried to limit his time in it to 30 minutes a day, or two 20 minute sessions a day. Even at that I felt it was a bit much, but he really enjoyed it!
When he was eight months old, Little Man learned to crawl, and then in the weeks that followed that, as he gradually got more mobile with his crawling, his attitude towards the Jumperoo changed. By the time he was nine months old, he still enjoyed the Jumperoo, but he also got frustrated quickly with being in it. Five minutes was about the most enjoyment he got from it. At that point though, I felt he was ready to move on to something new, so we packed up the Jumperoo and sold it on to a new home for a new baby to enjoy. I must admit, I was a little sad to say goodbye to it, it had given us so much enjoyment while we had it. We were always as entertained watching Little Man in it as he was jumping around. Here’s one of the last videos I took of him in it: Look how much he grew!
We said goodbye to our Jumperoo last month, after six months of invaluable service. I bought ours in America (as we spent the summer there) and managed to haul it back to Ireland in a suitcase. It was one of the best things we bought for Éamonn – we could have meals together while he bounced! He did fall asleep in it once….
Like Little Man, É tired of the Jumperoo once he could crawl. But from July to January, he liked nothing better than to bounce and play. If only I could get the music out of my head!