It’s Tinkleberry’s first 4th of July outside the uterus! Yay!
Should I take him to the local fireworks tonight, or is it a bit early yet? He’s 7 months, but he tends to enjoy crowds and such.
My experience with my older child was that the first 4th of July, when she was 9 months old, was just fine for a trip to see fireworks. It was actually the following year when the noise was too scary.
Just be sure you are situated somewhere where you can protect his little ears if need be—and leave quickly, also if need be!
Is it a small show or a large one? We’ve been to see both with our littlest, and the small shows where everyone was nearer the lighting area were more noisy and bothered him. With huge shows, though, there’s usually a chance to sit far away from the noise of the take-off, but still see a great show in the sky.
Is the place you guys are going large enough to accommodate the Inkle-Tinkle-LoveGuns on a small hill or area away from the “BOOM” but still get a good view of the “AHhhhh!”?
We don’t know yet. We are scouting area displays as we speak. It’ll be just me & Tink, though. Sadly, DLG has to work. But he has a long weekend this week, because he starts a new job on Tuesday, so we’re thinkin’ of going to the county fair. Yee-haw!
Congrats on the new job, and Yee-haw, indeed! I love the county fair! Sno-cones and pick-up ducks! Oh, and take double the amount of babywipes that you think would be necessary 
Due to two very unfortunate blow-out incidents, one involving a complete covering of the car seat in poo, we no longer go anywhere, even to Starbucks, without the following:
- 6 to 10 diapers
- a bunch of wipes
- at least one complete baby outfit change
- at least 3 bottles filled with premeasured water
- an equal number of premeasured formula servings (they make little segmented containers for this- who knew?)
- a couple of small bottles of water (we store a case in the trunk of the car)
- a receiving blanket
- some toys
- a baby transport device, usually the backpack carrier as someone hates strollers*
Going out now resembles the moving of an army convoy, rather than 3 humans on a lark.
*Someone best get over that, because mommy’s tired of carrying 25lbs of human and crap on her back, and he ain’t getting any lighter.
Inkleberry, I just noticed last week that at least one formula manufacturers (Enfamil, maybe?) is putting out premeasured single serve powders, perfect for the diaper bag. While it’s not too much trouble premeasuring your own and stuffing it in containers, I still thought it was a cool idea. Sometimes “not too much trouble” is way too much trouble when you’ve got a Little.
Fireworks? Go for it. At this age, he’ll take his cue from you. If you’re nervous or anxious, he’ll be jittery and freaky. If you’re genuinely having fun, so will he. But yeah, sitting away from the Big Boom Area is probably best for his ears anyway.
We took WhyBaby to the fireworks yesterday, and she was Googley Trippy Baby the whole time. There were 5 (five!) other babies in our group, ranging in age from 4-9 months, and they all loved it or were at worst indifferent. But we *were *outside of the Big Boom Area.
I noticed that too. But I find Enfamil is TERRIBLE for mixing with cold water. Bright Beginnings does a fabulous job though- plus it gives mommy milk-like poos!
I’m thinking of sitting far back if we go. Thanks for the report from the frontlines, so to speak. I wish they didn’t start so late (9:30)! We’re going to go to a 4th of July festival this afternoon, and see how he does with face painting. I’m sure this is an absolutely stupid idea with a 7 month old, but hopefully the paint will wash out of clothes.
We went to a fireworks festival in Geneva when the boy was about five months old. Big mistake. Neither he nor his older sister tolerated the considerable noise. If you can be away from noise and percussive reports, then you should be fine. Except for the heat and mosquitoes. YMMV.
Have a happy and safe evening!
Watch the noise level, little ears are still fragile. And the mosquitos (as mentioned). YMMV, but in Minnesota they are large enough to carry off an infant. Or at very least make one miserable for days with the welts - and bug spray and babies don’t mix.
However, many infants are fine with louder noises - the “thunderstorm fear” hasn’t kicked in yet.
Hell, if you lived in Ohio, I’d invite you over to watch from our front porch (we lucked out - there’s a medium sized fireworks show literally a block down the street) and you could laugh at the cats jump two feet in the air with every boom.
We always took my friends’ little ones and they loved it - my one friend’s six month old sat there and giggled her head off every single time the “BOOM!” hit, oddly enough.
E.