Please, No More Stuffies!

It amazes me that Ana is a scant 5 months old and she already has two OVERFLOWING toy bins! She has only been playing with toys for about 2 months now, so most of those toys sat untouched for 4-5 months between my showers and her developing curiosity. I was wary of getting rid of them before she started playing because who am I to predict what my baby will want to play with??

Now that she has been playing for a little while and I have a better idea of what she is interested in, I plan on whittling down her pile of toys to something much more managable. I don't want her to have a pile of toys that she has never touched, and I don't want her to be overwhelmed by the amount of toys she has to play with, so this seems like the best choice. 

Some high-quality toys Ana is currently crazy about!

My criteria for Ana's toys has always been creativity. I want everything she plays with to spark curiosity and encourage imagination.The very first toy Gary and I bought for Ana was Discovery Kids "Build and Play" construction set, so she can build her own forts! (She's getting that for Christmas.) I don't want her to have toys for funs sake, I want her to have toys for educations sake. There is no reason she can't link learning and fun! (Duh, it's called homeschool!!) I'm also a firm believer in letting them play without toys.


Right now, her #1 toy is an activity center that my in-laws gave her. It plays music when she touches different parts of it and she is so curious about all the different knobs and buttons. I plan to steer away from plastic toys as she gets older, but for this age it is perfect. She plays with it and rolls around under it and sits up to touch things, it has really improved her balance because she wants to sit up so she can play! Ax

With Christmas less than 6 months away (Shoot me, I'm a planner.), I've already started making a Christmas list for Ana that I am very excited about! Wooden blocks are definitely at the top, along with a tin tea set, a trip to Disney, and Sophie the Giraffe. (Sophie is a teether made of natural rubber, if you didn't know!) I plan on asking each person or family to limit themselves to giving ONE toy to Ana for Christmas for a couple reasons. The first reason is that the toys on her list are high quality and thus on the pricey end of things. The second reason is that I don't want her to end up with a bazillion toys that I'm going to donate (and feel guilty about it!) because she doesn't need that many.

Meaningful stuffies we bought for some dear kids in our life!

I also employ this mindset when I buy toys for the kids I know! I buy toys that I know they will love and that are high quality and I also limit myself to one toy and one stocking stuffer (see the stuffies on your right!) per kid because Lord knows I want to buy them a million things! I just remind myself that I don't want a bazillion toys and their mommies probably don't either! (Of course, you can never have too many good books!)