Toys
- Step 2 Water Table - I wanted another outdoor toy for Alex, and this water table has been a GREAT one! He loves to splash in the water, pour water down the water wheel, and use the plastic cup to water our (dying...) tomato plants. Thanks, Mom & Dad, for permission to use Alex's souvenir money towards something other than a souvenir!
- Step 2 Firetruck - a garage sale find (by Donna & Mom) last summer. It's supposed to have a roof, but ours doesn't. Alex doesn't care. Neither do we, as it's $60 new or $6 at a garage sale. He ADORES this firetruck, and it gets used every day. When we play in the play area at Menards, it's the first toy Alex wants...even though he has it at home!
- Tate - Okay, it's really Mr. Potato Head...but Alex calls him "Tate". I guess it's because they spend so much time together that Alex needed a nickname for his spud friend. ;) We have Mini Mr. Potato Heads from the dollar store and big Mr. Potato Heads. He doesn't always get the pieces in the right holes, but Alex LOVES Tate. Oh, and somehow he has lost most of the arms...even though our house is relatively tidy. Where can you hide Mr. Potato Head arms?
- Cars, Trucks, Buses, etc. They're all "cahs" or "cuhs" right now, but Alex loves them all...Little People cars, Dollar Store dump trucks, Fisher Price fire trucks...they zoom around our house all day long. We race bigger cars down the hallway, crash smaller cars off of furniture, and make vroom-vroom sounds.
- Choo Choo - We have a borrowed Leap Frog ride-on toy train (now considered a collector's item?!) from Karen. Her little Lillie is growing up fast, so we're going to have to return this beloved train before long. It's such a GREAT toy - music, lights, sounds, activities, and great for steering all around the house. Alex adores it, and he will be very sad when it goes away. I think we'll be hunting down this train for Christmas, if not sooner...neither Keith nor I can imagine Alex without this toy! I found a very similar Winnie The Pooh train on Target's website...it might have to suffice.
**Uh, did I title this entry FIVE? If I went to #6 and #7, I'd include his "Mow Mow" (Fisher Price lawn mower) from Grandma & Papa P. It's an indoor toy that Alex uses to "mow" our carpet, hallways, and TOES every day. I'd also add: Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Musical Table - we got this table for free through the Fisher Price House party. It's still one of the most-loved toys in our home. Hardly a day goes by when Alex doesn't play with this table...and he's had it since he was 9 months old!
General Items
- Bumkins Bibs (did I mention these in the baby post?) - I LOVE these bibs! So easy to shove in a diaper bag, wipe clean in a hurry, or toss in the washer. We have two. I'd like about twenty, ha ha! ;)
- Bum Genius diapers - I'm still in love, almost 20 months later. These are my favorite of all the diapers we've tried. The velcro isn't as "sticky" as it once was, but they stay on just fine...the velcro issue is in the dryer, where the diapers make chains by attaching to one another!
- Munchkin Snack Catchers - I got these snack cups before we went to Myrtle Beach, and they are GREAT for the car, for church, and out & about. It's a great way to give Alex a snack without having a huge mess to clean up.
- Gerber Sip N Smile Soft Spout cups - at least he'll drink out of other cups now! These Gerber cups are the ONLY cup Alex would use for a while. He's branching out, but we have a nice collection of these...and they are a very good sippy cup. We stick with all Gerber cups because then I only have to deal with one kind of removable stopper.
Food (our kiddo may be tiny, but he LOVES to eat!)
- Polaner fruit spread - I have to go out of my way to get this stuff, so I stock up when I can. The only sugar is from fruit juice, and it tastes sooooo much better than regular jelly. I love the chunks of fruit in it!
- "Stretch Island" fruit leather - not cheap at Meijer, so (again) I stock up when I get to the right store. Alex & I both love this stuff, and it's healthier than typical fruit snacks...no added sugar!
- Raisins - the current cheap, healthy snack of choice. Alex LOVES them!
- Kefir - kind of like drinkable yogurt, but even healthier. Since Alex still won't drink milk, he gets about 8 oz of kefir every day (along with other dairy...the kid loves cheese!) Amazingly enough - they've started to carry it (although a little pricy...) at our local grocery store. If we can't find it or it isn't in the budget, Danimals drinkable yogurt is our "runner up".
- This one's a toss up...Juicy Juice? Cheese? Goldfish crackers? Special K tomato flavored crackers? Tomato soup? Fruit in general? I can't decide. The boy loves his food.
BOOKS
- Gallop (thanks, Grandma Purdy!)
- Bear Wants More
- Harry The Dirty Dog (Keith remembers reading this story as a child!)
- Truck book (again, from Grandma Purdy - it's actually a board book with one truck picture in it. Alex could care less about the other pages, though. He loves that truck page! I can only imagine what he'd do if he had a board book of trucks. I'm thinking about printing/laminating a bunch of truck pictures from the internet to make him his own truck book. We'll see if I get around to that.)
- Curious George At The Zoo board book (current fascination with all things Curious George/monkey...who knows why...)
DVDs Poor, deprived Alex still only gets about 30 minutes of TV per day...sometimes less...but here's what he loves:
- Curious George (actually, it's recorded from TV on our DVR)
- Little People "Discovering Things That Go" (free with a toy he got for Christmas last year)
- Baby Einstein sampler DVD that came in a magazine - he laughs & laughs at the puppets
- Baby Signing Time (but not nearly as often...)
- Leap Frog's Letter Factory (only on occasion)
FIVE WISHES
- Step 2 Sand Table
- trains for the Step 2 train table we have hidden for him for Christmas (thanks, Deb, for finding an AWESOME deal!)
Can you tell I like Step 2 products? Alex has the big slide (thanks Grandma & Grandpa P), water table, ride-on toys...their outdoor toys are QUALITY products! - the swingset from Menards that we didn't get this summer, thanks to $$ going to a hospital stay instead :(
- I can't come up with 5...our kiddo is very blessed & very spoiled!
Could do without...
- tub toys - he currently loves an empty Tums bottle and plastic salsa container. He'll get interested in tub toys again sometime, I'm sure, but for now...tub toys aren't a big hit.
- specialty toddler snacks - Gerber can sure pack a lot of sugar and junk into their supposedly healthy snacks!
- for now, the Clipo - a VERY cool Christmas gift, but Alex just doesn't "get it" yet. Sabrina & Keelie had fun with it the day they were here, so I'm really hoping Alex grows into it before long. For now, he just walks around with the battery-operated gear piece...my electronics-loving kid! ;)
- suction cup plates - they're useless because they don't stick. Fancy divided baby plates in general - our plain old bargain plates work just fine...and they stack nicely in the cabinet, too.
- no #5 here, either...maybe we're getting smarter in our purchase? Probably not... ;)
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