Wouldn't You Rather Sleep in a Forest?

Dali Decals has a nice selection of pre-designed gigantic trees with separate leaves you can place yourself.

I opted for a tree where the leaves are  blowing off in a very strong gust and swirling around the room.

Djeco Mobiles

In case you haven't deduced this already, I'm into mobiles.  In most upscale toy shops, they'll have a smattering of Flensted mobiles, which are terrific and timeless and Danish.  They look great and have adorable themes, but then along came Djeco and they stepped things up a few notches.

Here are a few of my favorites:

An Unusual Night
African Savannah
Monde Marin

Tiny Adventurer Outfitters

What is Swedish for adorable little daypack? Oh right, Fjällräven.

It's going to be tempting to get yourself one, but if you don't like to match, get your little Hansel or Gretel one first.

My First Yacht

From Vilac

She's not especially seaworthy and usually starts taking on water in the bathtub, but she is a beautiful vessel.  Also, the upkeep costs considerably less than the real thing.

How to Show Up Everyone Else at a Baby Shower

NatureChild's Store on Etsy

Liane lives in Germany and makes custom felted wool mobiles strung from corkscrew hazelnut branches by hand.  Fair warning though, you will upstage everyone - grandmothers, aunts, best friends, et cetera.

"Where can I get one of those?"

"Oh, the mobile?  I had it custom made by a woman who lives in Germany, so...you really can't."

If you don't mind dagger-eyes from a room full of women, this is how you bring the house down at your next baby shower.

Best Mix Tape of All Time?

I didn't say that; those are your words.  I remember various snippets from my youth where an older cousin or a good friend with a cool older sister introduced me to a bunch of new music that rocked my world.  It's not that my parents had awful taste in music, just that there is so much non-mainstream amazing music out there.  I can't really think of a good reason why you wouldn't want to expose your little monster to as much as possible, so I did my best to assemble a general purpose playlist from the far reaches of my experiences.  I (tried to) focus on trying to find songs my chicken nugget might not otherwise come across.  In no particular order...

Soda Soap [The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars]: I found this gem researching SLRAS after coming across 'Ankala,' another great song by them on this playlist.
Skokiaan [Louis Armstrong]: Satchmo's reinterpretation of a fantastic Bulawayo Jazz classic.
Staralfur [Sigur Rós]: This is the song playing in the background during the culminating Jaguar Shark scene of "The Life Aquatic."  It's a beautiful song.
You're So Cool [Hans Zimmer]: One of the cooler songs on this playlist, it's an homage to '4 Stücke Für Xylophon,' a song composed Karl Peinkofer and originally written to encourage other composers to reinterpret it.  Hans wrote it for "True Romance," which you need to see if you haven't yet.
O...Saya [AR Rahman & MIA]: From "Slumdog Millionaire," which I think was a very entertaining story, but not a great movie.  The song is good though.
Into the Mystic [Van Morrison]: In the interests of full disclosure, this was our wedding song, so you know, cheesy.
Brazil [Django Reinhardt]: You should introduce your child to Django early on.  This was a result of liking Django and having seen the movie of the same name (featuring an obscure cool-because-it-wasn't-intentionally-cool cameo by Robert DeNiro)
4 Stücke Für Xylophon [Karl Peinkofer Percussion Ensemble]: This song shows up in the 1973 movie, "Badlands."  It'll sound familiar because it and the Hans Zimmer reinterpretation ('You're So Cool') show up all the time in other commercials and movies.
La Valse Des Vieux Os [Yann Tiersen]: This is one of several songs from "Amélie" on the list.  Basically, my rule of thumb is if Hans Zimmer or Yann Tiersen wrote the soundtrack for the movie, I'll like it.
Bank Robber [The Clash]: Sooner or later my baby is going to ask what it is I do for a living.
Ooh La La [The Faces]: Lifted directly from "Rushmore."
This Is How I Feel [Finley Quaye]:  My college coxswain introduced me to Finley.
Two Shoes [The Cat Empire]: I can't speak for the band's name (since everyone knows cats are evil), but I heard these guys on the radio while on vacation in Hawaii and they are just awesome.  Bonus on this one is that the song is featured in the final montage of a mountain biking movie ("Seasons") that little children will watch in heart-melting awe.
Soir de Fete [Yann Tiersen]: Another song from "Amélie."
Somewhere Over the Rainbow [Israel Kamakawiwo Ole]: A ukelele accompanied vocal amalgamation of several amazing songs.  Unfortunately, it made an appearance in "Face Off."
The Banana Boat Song/Day-O [Harry Belafonte]:  I really hope I don't need to explain why children will love Harry.
Wild World [Cat Stevens]: Life lessons for the little hooker.
Rue des Cascades [Yann Tiersen]: Another song from "Amélie."
It's Oh So Quiet [Bjork]: I am probably just as surprised as you are that Bjork made the list.
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard [Paul Simon]: Awesome.
Jump in the Line [Harry Belafonte]: Independently verified to make all children spontaneously want to dance.
Rhapsody in Blue [George Gershwin]: The song you want to play when your baby visits New York for the first time.
La Valse d'Amelie [Yann Tiersen]: Another song from "Amélie."
Heroes and Villians [The Beach Boys]: Love it.
Coconut Woman [Harry Belafonte]: Harry makes another appearance.
La Valse des Monstres [Yann Tiersen]: Another song from "Amélie."
Chaiya Chaiya [Sapna Awasti and Sukhvinder Singh]: Served as a somewhat edgy feel-good movie credits dance-along song to "Inside Man."
Guilty [Yann Tiersen]: Another song from "Amélie."
Skokiana [Binsmead Marimba]: An instrumental (marimba) version of the song performed by Louis Armstrong earlier in the list.
The Obvious Child [Paul Simon]: It's a great song and it's about parenthood.
Glósóli [Sigur Rós]: The other best-song-for-little-ones' playlist by the Icelandic band.
Concrete and Clay [Unit 4+2]: Stolen from the "Rushmore" soundtrack.
Ankala [The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars]: I bought the entire "Blood Diamond" soundtrack to get this bonus song.  The rest of the soundtrack is awful, but it was worth it.
You and I [Ingrid Michaelson]: There is important subliminal messaging going on here.  Parents need diversified plans for retirement.
The Righteous Wrath of an Honorable Man [Colin Stetson]: Heard him on NPR; this guy is sick.
Senegal Fast Food [Amadou and Mariam featuring Manu Chao]: Broaden their little horizons.
A Swinging Safari [Bert Kaempfert]: I'm pretty sure this is the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' ripped off.
Good Vibrations [The Beach Boys]: I like it.
The Chariot [The Cat Empire]: Another amazing song from the tragically named Australian band.
Rudie Can't Fail [The Clash]: Relax; it'll be years before they decipher what "drinking brews for breakfast" actually means.
Zorba the Greek [John Murphy and David Hughes]: If you need to get a child pumped, play this song and step back.

You may have noticed the conspicuous absence of any reggae music, which I love.  This is because I think it doesn't blend well with other genres.  Instead, I have an entirely separate soul-shakedown playlist.  Maybe I'll share it and some of my other purpose-specific playlists in later posts.

The Best Toy Companies are all European

Look, Europe is a disaster.  It turns out sharing a currency was a fantastic idea if you wanted to encourage some of the less reliable economies to lie to get into the EU.  That being said, they make the best toys.

Haba - I really shouldn't have to tell you about this one.  What you may not know about is their world class customer service.  I emailed them to ask about where I could buy some replacement wooden balls for a toy that my daughter lost.  Three days later, I was going to write them again to complain about the lack of response when a package arrived, full of wooden balls.  I didn't pay for shipping, handling or for anything else.  They didn't ask for a receipt or hassle me; they just made my daughter's week.  They made a customer for life that day.
Maileg - They are a wonderful company from Denmark that makes adorable little knit mice and rabbits that come with oversized matchbox beds and tiny little cribs.  My daughter has a little baby rabbit that came with a tiny knit baby bottle and baby blanket.  One of my fondest memories is of seeing her tuck in the little rabbit and feed it from the bottle when she was about 10 months old.
Käthe Kruse - If you have a little girl, do me a favor and get her one of these dolls.