ROLL CALL!

Okay. Someone posted a comment about my last blog post. In the chaos, in the sea of toys featured in the time lapse video of Kahlen playing, a very preceptive 'anonymous' follower of my blog wanted to know "where is Elmo?". Good Question! Elmo is in time out. "Time out for a toy? Are you Nuts?"
 The answer is YES... well sort of.

When you have a kid as loved, adored and spoiled as mine, you find that you have toys taking over you living room. My kiddo has more toys than all the children in some small country have added up together. For real! SOOOOoooo many toys! So, to avoid killing ourselves tripping over then all, and to avoid the need to buy new toys, we (well, more accurately, I) devised a plan. We have a toy rotation. We separate the toys into groups (2-3) and rotate the toys through periods of 'play' and 'vacation'. The vacationing toys live in a box in Ks room. They relax and regroup after having been hit, throw, sucked on, and generally abused, and we all forget we own them. Then as K grows bored of certain 'play' toys, as they become neglected, rejected and unsuckedonected (Ok. I made that word up!) we give them a vacation, and pull out one of the well rested toys from the vacation box. Kahlen squeals with delight as she gets what she thinks is a new toy, and we sit back and reap the benefits and rewards of having a happy baby.

So what is in the 'play' stage of the rotation right now, you ask?

Let me show you the 'most loved' of the 'play' toys.

Monkey and Hippo (yes those are their names!) These two are drunk, in love, and make wonderful 'chew toys'. Kahlen adores them, and as you can see, they adore each other.

A run-of-the-mill kitchen spoon. It has to be 'the big spoon', the small ones are promptly rejected. But... 'the big spoon'... OHhhh baby! Hours of quiet happy baby!

The classics. Stacking cups and stacking rings.

Neither are stacked, but both are unceremoniously unstacked (with delight!) and then the pieces are banged together. Smiles and a 'I am so smart' look ensue.

The BEST BOOK EVER! K loves it. This is the only way I can get her to 'cuddle' with me. I can read this book cover to cover 3 times and  she actually sits still, moving only slightly when I POP open the flap on each page.

"Peter Rabbit". A fave toy with TONS of good chewy parts. Easily fits in the the diaper bag :)

The CUBE. This cube is is well loved. K pics it up, chews it, throws it, crawls to it, 'rolls' it and then does it all over again. It came in a set of 3 and was recommended by the occupational therapist from the NICU because of its black and white, and bold colours (very developmentally appropriate).

 The cube is 'hot' the pyramid and ball are 'not'.

Sophie the Giraffe. The best 21.99 ever spent. This is a teething kids best friend!

The pop up box thing. K loves to close the boxes, and use this to stand up on. Opening the boxes is more of a 'mom' job, and K isnt shy to let me know when my assistance is needed.

The 'play and learn' table. Fun toy Noisy toy. Not a good 6am toy. Its nice that the legs come off when I want K to stay close to the ground, or go on when she wants to stand.

The box that her new toy came in (see OH BOY NEW TOY for more)

The 'game' K plays with the box.

Crawl to, drum on, climb up, stand, climb on TOP of, sit, smile, be proud, announce pride at top of lungs, climb off of box, drum on box, announce accomplishment at top of lungs, repeat!

Oh... And Elmo (even though he is technically on 'vacation' right now). This is the stand up comedy Elmo. He sings, tells jokes, talks, laughs, and generally annoys the F*#K outta Steve and I. Miss K loves it though. I think she enjoys having a play mate her own size who can cary on a conversation with her.