Best seat in the house

With his nine month birthday just around the corner and his nine to 12 month wardrobe unpacked, Ethan has well and truly grown out of his bouncer chair. His legs dangle over the edge and now he can sit up, he keeps pulling himself forwards and nearly toppling out the chair altogether.

It was a sad day when we had to pack it away in the loft - it's been one of the main ways in which we've been able to calm and soothe Ethan since the day he was born (take a look at this post, look how tiny he once was!). What on earth are we going to do now?! Ethan is an extremely happy and content boy but the bouncer chair was always able to calm away any teething tears and it provided him with his own seat in our lounge, where we could keep him in one spot whilst he played away with his various toys.

He's yet to start crawling but as he's so confident with sitting up all by himself and reaching for things, we know we can't leave him for even a second as he'll be off causing all sorts of mischief. So, we asked ourselves, what DO you get to replace a bouncer chair? We can't have him sitting on our laps, the sofa or on the floor all the time after all.

Hubs did some research and we chose two new options for Ethan to enjoy in the place of his old bouncer chair.

The first time Ethan tried his new beanbag chair

The first is a beanbag armchair for toddlers from Dunelm Mill, in the sale for £23.99 It is quite a soft seat which you need to position properly before putting your child onto it, whether you want them to be sitting up or more relaxed and reclined, as beanbags can just move all over the place. It has a fun safari print that is quite muted in it's colours so it's not too 'in your face' like some kid's items, and Ethan loved it from the first time he sat his little tooshie on it.

Lazy afternoon in his armchair - just needs a pipe and slippers!

The second option we now have is the Car Playnest from Galt, which again we bought in the sale from Amazon for £36. It's quite big when assembled (it has a fabric cover which goes over the inflatable ring) but it's already proved very popular with our little boy. It has a nice space in the middle for your child to sit inside and if they should wobble or fall any which-way, the playnest is well cushioned so they won't hurt themselves at all. It has a detachable dashboard with a steering wheel which turns, a horn than 'toot toots' and a key that revs the engine when you put it in the ignition. Around the edge, there's side mirrors and there's also two flaps, one either side, that have a picture underneath of a cat and a dog, obviously passengers along for the ride!

I'm so pleased with this purchase as it's great quality, there's lots for baby to look at, feel and play with and most importantly, Ethan is secure sitting inside whilst also having freedom to play.

Don't just take my word for it though - look how happy he is in his new racing car playnest...