Catching Up #4 - Toys

All kids have toys. They learn by playing so toys are important. I noticed three things about toys while I was in Utah.

1. It didn't seem like Evan and Shanna had many toys for Calvin. I know he's young - but bright colors or rattles and squeaky or crispy/crunchy things can get a baby's attention and make them want to examine those noises. While I was there Calvin was getting really good a grabbing things and trying to get them to his mouth. His greatest success was his hands.

I brought up 3 small cute colorful stuffed Snoopy dogs - one for each of the grandkids. Nothing fancy. And Calvin really liked seeing it and trying to put it in his mouth. He was somewhat successful. I left one there for him to have. And in Evan and Shanna's defense - they were packing up and cleaning out and getting ready to leave for a summer internship in Idaho. But I did spy a few toys when I went to their house. A big round duck with crinkly wings and a chime inside, some small shapes with crispy sounds and bells inside with velcro wristbands, and his ice cream cone thingy - there really were toys. And toys are good to distract fussy babies. They are good to entice babies to stretch and try new things. They are good to help develop hand/eye coordination. So good job Evan and Shanna - Calvin is a baby in development. Keep him busy with toys.

2. The Kevan's, on the other hand, have lots of toys. There are boxes, bins, canisters, cabinets, drawers, bathtubs, and beds full of toys. Let me list a few: electronic pianos, stacking cups, floating ducks, rubber letters, wooden puzzles, electronic music and ball spitting gadgets, shapes and canisters for the shapes, train tracks and trains, cars, bikes, dolls, dolly blankets, crayons and markers, bean bags, etc. Now in their defense, they have had 2+ years to acquire such an extensive collection of toys. Sadie has a lot of toys to play with. She plays a lot. She loves to play! I guess that is a toddler's full-time job. PLAY WITH TOYS! She always wants you to play with her. And she usually shares. That can change with her mood though. She has plenty of toys. Zachary came into this world with a great supply of toys to explore (when he gets big like Calvin).

3. Sometimes you don't need toys. I witnessed first hand what kids like to play with even if there are lots of toys. Sadie's favorite toy while I was there was a big cardboard box. It became a canvas for our most creative expressions - it had my rendition of "Y" Mountain, several Bobby faces, the alphabet, a house with a yard a tree a bird some flowers and clouds, spirals - lots of those, tracings of hands and feet, and a ton more. She put a lot of stickers on this box. We colored on the box using every color imaginable. Actually Sadie choose my colors for me. She would choose 2 crayons or markers - one light blue and one dark blue. Then she would present me with the one I got to use. Then when she was done, I was too. She would collect the colors and then choose 2 more. That was the routine. But then Lindsey cut a hole in the side of the box that we could put a TP tube through and then pass balls and other things from the outside in or the inside out. Fun! That box was a house one day and a hiding spot the next. She got in it. She squeezed me into it too. Then a few days before I left we discovered that if we colored hard across the cardboard bumps that it sounded really cool. So we sort of scribbled on the empty spots to make the noise.

I guess chalk can be considered a toy - but she really loves coloring the sidewalk with it. She colors it and then uses a paintbrush with water on it to dissolve it away. Then she starts again. A budding artist.

She plays with the pans in the kitchen too. She gets them all out of the cabinet and then hides in the cabinet. She stacks and unstacks the pans. She even used the pans for shoes.

She seems to love playing with their potatoes. She even entertained herself with those at my house. She (and her daddy) went into our dark pantry. They played or whatever. But then later I noticed that she had picked off any of the "eyes" in my potatoes and pushed them under the door. Crazy fun!

Anyway, that is all I have to say about toys.