Toys

It's amazing what qualifies as a baby "toy." I was cleaning up Nick's play area last night after he had gone to sleep, and about half of his "toys" are repurposed household items. Included are empty Gatorade bottles, empty green tea bottles (plastic), a small plastic container that used to hold chocolate-covered fruit, brightly colored party salsa bowls, and most recently, small nesting Easter eggs. C and I realized that we can go to the super-duper on-sale section of the grocery store and find "toys" for usually under a dollar. Hooray!

We found that Nick doesn't care much for stuffed animal toys. We have a whole shelf of stuffed animals in his room that just sit there, watching him. He loves anything that is hard plastic that makes noise when you hit it with another toy. He likes to rub the plastic toys against the textured walls, probably because it makes a weird noise and feels cool. He loves toys with buttons, and is attracted to anything with a wire (whether he's supposed to be playing with it or not).

We have a babysitter who watches Nick part-time a few days a week. She observed that Nick is very analytical, even at 9 months. He is always turning his toys over to look at the back of them, or at their undersides, to see what's going on on the reverse. Once he knows where something is, he is determined to get it again, even if you "hide" it by putting it up high where he cannot reach it. This is particularly true for cell phones and TV remotes. I have a feeling that we will need to do a better babyproofing of the house in the very near future...