Board books & songs for infants and their parents; connecting with new parents

Hi All,

There are some great paper books for kids who are a little older (a few years old?), such as Mingyur Rinpoche’s “Ziji: The Puppy Who Learned to Meditate” (and I’d be glad to hear other recommendations in that vein!).

But what about board books for infants, like my 8 month old son who mouths and scrunches everything he can touch? Can anyone suggest board books that serve as reminders for practice / touching back into the present moment (for the adult reader), whether inspired by this tradition or Buddhism more broadly or anything else?

Similarly, can you recommend songs that serve both as practice/awareness reminders for the singer and engage infants? I chant the 4 immeasurables as a lullaby and some other meditation songs, but am looking for something more up-beat to mix in, ideally with some hand gestures or other movements. I feel like I heard some fairly up-beat songs with gestures involving “strong as a mountain” etc at a meditation center once but can’t find anything online that resonates.

I don’t know how much the content matters to him at this stage, but it’s only going to matter more to him as he develops, and it matters now to me (and thus indirectly to him — if I’m engrossed in monkey mind versus present, that affects him). When I read him a book or sing him a song 100 times, it sinks in deeply, at least for me; I’d prefer to take this opportunity to program myself and him with material that helps us cultivate open-heartedness, kindness, generosity, equanimity, joy, etc rather than the often-inane traditional western childrens’ rhymes.

More generally, any recommendations for online groups to connect with other new-ish parents and discuss this phase of life through a Joy of Living-aligned/compatible lens? Could be a forum-type group, or a few other people who’d like to do a group skype occasionally, or other ideas?

Thanks, Peter