I packed away all of the baby toys into a giant plastic tub and discovered that I was bored with the toys that were left. Electronic, most of 'em. And noisy. I hate them. So I took B toy shopping yesterday. She is SO cute in the toy department. She bounces from aisle to aisle, toy to toy, like the ball in a pinball machine. It's almost like toy overload. And she squeals and oooohs and aaaaaahs at every toy she sees. She especially likes to take all the boxes off of the shelves and line them up on the floor. I had a great time picking up after Hurricane B.
She already has a lot of those V-Tech toys at home. The ones that make sounds, music, say words, etc. with the push of a button. Batteries required. The aisles were lined with more V-Tech toys than I knew existed. And they're all at toddler level, so they can push the buttons and try them out. She went nuts. She wanted every single one she saw. But I was on a mission to find her something less passive. Something more physical, and that would require she use her imagination. Aha! A pull wagon full of Mega Blocks. Perfect! She was interested in it for about 5 seconds, then spied a V-Tech something or other and darted off. I put the wagon in our cart.
They had these bins full of plastic cars, boats, dump trucks, boats and other vehicles. They were $2 each, so I bought a boat, a dump truck, and an airplane (for Daddy). They are so cute! Big and clunky. Perfect for a wee toddler. She actually likes those.
And I gave in to technology *slightly* by buying a Farmer Ned barn/playhouse with all the various farm animals and accoutrements. When you open the horse's gate, it makes the sound of a horse. When you put the sheep in his haybed, it goes baaaaaaaa. The pig goes oink oink when you push on its pig bed, etc. Yes, batteries required. But it's interactive and requires her to *do* something. Plus, she loves catapulting Farmer Ned out of his bed with the twist of a nob (some adult's idea of humor is my guess). I enjoyed that too.
A box of those giant color crayons (the washable kind, thank you), a pad of doodle paper, and a 16 pack of AA batteries completed our purchases.
So our living room is scattered with new shiny, non-electronic toys, that she's actually been *playing* with. And she drew lovely pictures with her new crayons, and has chosen the empty box to be her new best friend, carrying it along wherever she goes. I dug through the closet through some of K's old toys (which we saved, mercifully) and came upon a Magnadoodle. Fabulous! Whoever invented this was a genius. B drooled all over it.
So we've been playing all morning. And it's been fun. Not once have I been tempted to toss any of these toys over the deck railing because the obnoxious sounds they make have just about rendered me psychotic.
V-Tech, I've got your number. And I won't be dialing it ever again. Especially not on that little V-Tech telephone someone so kindly gave to B as a gift. You know the one -- looks like a toddler version of Mommy's cell phone? Yeah, that one. Bye bye.
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