October 28, 2007

Toys

Someone gave Kyle free tickets to the Michigan football game yesterday, so our family shopping trip became a mom and Jack shopping trip. We went to Lansing because of my new found love for the Lansing Mall. I used to hate this mall. I believe "ghetto" was the word that I originally used to describe it. It's come a long way. There are great stores, it's really clean and the best part of all? It has a nursing room! (I feel like I've already written a post about this. If I have, just skip ahead to the next paragraph.) There's a private room with a locking door that has a big comfy leather chair and footstool in it specifically set aside for nursing mothers. To be honest, this is the main reason I go to this mall. If Jack gets hungry, I don't have to worry about hunting for a place to nurse him.

We went to a few stores, including Old Navy yesterday, and were mildly disappointed. It was like they were going out of business or something. There was little to choose from.

On the way home, we stopped at Babies 'R' Us. I wanted to buy a new toddler "Bundle Me" that would fit into Jack's stroller. While I was there, I spent some time looking for good age appropriate, getting-ready-to-crawl, toys. I just about drove myself crazy looking at the walls of toys. I could look at something and think it looked cool, but how am I supposed to know what he'd like or wouldn't like? I'm new at this.



While we were standing there looking helpless, a mom was standing next to me and asked how old Jack was. "4 and a half months old," I replied. She did a fairly good job keeping the look of shock off of her face as she looked at the 20 lb kid hanging out of the baby bjorn. We started talking and she told me she had an 11 month old and pointed me in the direction of three of his favorites. I thanked her and I bought them. Here's what I got:


I had seen this toy, called a "Winkel" when I was looking around but the $12.99 price tag made me keep looking. The mom I spoke to insisted that it was worth every penny. She said it was so easy for her son to hold on to and was great for teething. I gave in and bought it. Her advice was to use some of the toy links to attach it to whatever he was sitting or laying on to keep it from getting too far away from him or from hitting the floor. I let Jack play with it this morning . . . so far, so good.

She said her son loved pushing this around when he started learning to crawl. Then when he was old enough he enjoyed making the pieces fit through the right holes. We're saving this one for a Christmas gift.


I had already picked this up when I started talking to the other mom and she said her son loved it. Again, it's easy for them to hold onto and catch. They also have a larger size for when he gets older.

I would welcome any ideas that anyone else has about age-appropriate toys and activities for 4 1/2 month old children!

1 comment:

Heather S. said...

We have the Winkel and the peek a blocks shape sorter. Both girls loved the Winkel! Not so much for the shape sorter. Lucy is almost 18 months and she is just starting to put shapes in the right place. What she loved (and still does) are the peek-a-balls! The ring stackers have been a big hit here. Lucy used to just chew on them, then she started stacking them and now she and Norah put them on their wrists like bracelets. Little People have been a HUGE hit. As soon as Lucy was able to hole things and switch hands, she has liked them - just the right size to put in her mouth, but way too big to choke on. She is just starting to play with the house and the barn - but last year she just loved the people.