As Wallaby celebrates his half birthday (six months, ermagherd!), he's working very hard on the crawling thing, up on his hands and knees and trying to figure out how to get in a forward-moving gear. So I've been putting a 'bait' toy a little ways ahead of him, to encourage him to reach forward.
All good stuff, right? But I've got a confession. His current bait of choice is a two-inch ball of tinfoil that I tossed on the floor for the kitten. He'll follow that sucker as long as I want to keep moving it … or until the kitten intercepts.
Obviously, there's this whole gazillion-dollar industry devoted to producing "child development aids" and another gazillion-dollars aimed at convincing parents like me that little poopsie will be doomed to a life of underperformance if he/she doesn't have several hundred dollars worth of new toys for each stage of his/her little life.
At the moment, my son is obsessed with shoes, curtains and cat toys. Which is fine by me, as we're using them to practice what he needs to practice. I do, however, keep a close eye on what's being played with, and by whom, and I run each toy decision through an advanced decision-making tree that I though I would share with you in the form of a flowchart.
Enjoy!
Ha, love the flowchart. Yes, save the money on the fancy toys. You'll need it for if/when he gets into Legos. Munchkin's favorite at that age was the tupperware drawer. The boys - a ball for the oldest, and a simple car that the youngest could push (no batteries, no on/off buttons).
ReplyDeleteArizona is really hoping he'll dig LEGOs. Even before we had a baby on the way, he wanted to buy the LEGO Millennium Falcon for kiddo-to-be. I said "what if he/she doesn't like Star Wars?" His response was, "We give it back." (I'm pretty sure he wouldn't, but for familial harmony, Star Wars will be lovingly introduced at the proper time …)
DeleteHaha! I love the flowchart! Personally I think the fancy and expensive toys are aimed at the parents. Last year, my friend Jen had a baby and Mom and I went searching for clothes and toys for her.
ReplyDeleteThis is when we learned that the practical/does it have a use factor was strongly overpowered by the cute factor...we would buy almost anything that had a fox on it! But, kids don't really care about that kind of thing until they get older...so go with what works! :D
I will confess that I'm a sucker for dinosaurs and sharks. Oh, and bugs. He's such a little boy … though on closer look, I'm pretty sure the shorts I got him the other day have cockroaches interspersed with the rhinoceros beetles in the print ...
DeleteI've seen your practicality in action, and I'm already in awe.
ReplyDeleteBTW, best Xmas gift we ever came up with was for B when he became fascinated with vacuums. We got him his very own Dustbuster. ;)
Awww, thank you, DD. Though I claim it's mostly laziness on my part … and ROFLOLOL on the Dustbuster. I remember begging to be allowed to mow the lawn. THAT novelty wore off quick, but somehow the chore stuck.
DeleteParadise to a toddler is a pot and wooden spoon, popcorn on a plastic soda bottle and anything you don't want him toget into. Love the chart.
ReplyDelete