A few weeks ago the Little Man and I went to our friends house to play. Lindsay's house is always fun to go to because we get to talk, she has boys a few months older that my little guy and a 2 1/2 year old girl who just loves baby little man. Anyway, while we were there I was sitting with my baby on my lap and he was looking around for something to play with. I looked next to me and saw a bottle of lotion and handed it to him. He immediately took it like it was a prize and started biting it. Lindsay saw what was happening, laughed and told me that they had toys to play with. Lo and behold she went to the toy box in the corner and pulled out vast amounts of soft, noise making, chew toys for the boys to enjoy. This experience got me thinking. While we have a few toys for the Little Man they are ones that other people have bought or donated to us. Usually when he is fussy I look around for the nearest item that he can't choke on. For the next few days I started to notice the non-toy items that I hand to the Little Man pretty frequently and these are them.
While most of these items we would all consider trash, my baby values them like treasure. They include the lids to the formula cans, a cd and cd case or combination of the two, an extra sponge brush that hasn't been used for painting, an empty wipes bag, a travel pack of tissues, an empty cough drop bag, a little bag of potato chips that came free with The Man's lunch one day but never got eaten, and an empty medicine bottle with a rubber top that is perfect for chewing. I also realized that a spoon, highlighter, an old cell phone and junk mail should have been included but were omitted. Just for the record, he does play with the toys that he has, he just gets tired of them because, like I said, we only have a few.
Needless to say, after seeing the treasure chest of toys that Lindsay's kids get to play with I am debating whether I am a bad mom or a financially savvy one. Either way, thanks to those who have bought my kid a "real" toy so that I don't feel entirely like scum.
8 comments:
Both of you are using your imagination. In my day, and my parents, the big joke was on Christmas, when the children were having MORE fun with the box the new toy came in, than the new toy. I can just hear the "crinkle" noise the potato chip bag makes, etc. He is exploring his world and doesn't need a bunch of fancy toys. Wait until he discovers your pots, pans, lids and wooden spoons, etc.
Erica's favorite "toy" for her first year of life was a tube of sunscreen I kept in the diaper bag. She would go to town gumming that thing. I vote for financially savvy parent, of course! Mom O' Nine is right- at Christmas, just wrap up a couple of empty boxes and be done. You won't be able to do that for the rest of your kids because Little Man will want to know why Santa is bringing trash to his siblings. Enjoy it while you can! For some reason, the tube of sunscreen doesn't cut it for any of the kids any more. Darn!
Actually, I've found that they tend to want the "garbage" more than their own toys sometimes because they see their mom and dad doing stuff with them, which makes them much cooler. So don't go rushing out to buy more toys. Plus, once he has his first birthday party and starts getting toys in happy meals and other places, pretty soon you feel like you have too many toys!
I love the clever toys. Much better than anything you can buy at the store and they don't know the difference.
Creative and cost effective in our economy. He'll want more expensive things in a few years! Nana
Haha, I'm totally the same way! Whatever is closest that Brig can't choke on or chew to pieces is what he gets to play with. I figure as he gets older and more choosy then I will actually invest the money in real toys.
Well hey there stranger. I found you. Actually I saw your picture on Amber's blog and said, " I know that crazy girl". So....I found your blog and loandbehold YOU HAVE A BABY!!! Wow, you have been busy...so where are you guys? Back in AZ or still away?
i vote smartest parents!!
hey i have a ton of pics from brent & lexi's wedding and i dont have your e-mail address, so will send it on over to me and i will get those to ya!!!
it was so good to see you guys!! come back sooooon!!
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