Chica Baby

Wow, is my son into reading right now.  Any time he is fussy, offer to read him some books and he comes right over, sits down, and pays close attention.  Recently, we purchased a box set of Bright Baby books, and they are my son’s absolute favorite.  First of all, they came in a box.  Don’t forget the toddler obsession with “put in and take out!”  He loves to take the books out and try to put them back in the box (not an easy feat for a 21-month old).

I LOVE these books.  There is one picture per page, with a word below it.  It’s great for learning to associate a word with a picture without a lot of other distractions on the page.

First Words — boy, girl, shoe, milk, etc.

Colors — yellow cheese, pink dress, black cat, etc.

Animals — bee, goat, cat, dog, lion, etc.

Read more at www.priddybooks.com.

My parents recently bought this for my 21-month old son, and he immediately fell in love with it.

http://www.step2.com/product.cfm?product_id=1412

It’s a little blue car with a seatbelt.  Your child sits in it while you push him around.  Your child can turn the steering wheel and pretend to drive the car, while you steer with the long handle.  The steering wheel has a horn that beeps, and the car comes equipped with a cup holder for your child.  My son absolutely loves to beep the horn and wave at everyone as we cruise around the neighborhood.  The front hood opens to reveal a compartment.  When I take my son around the neighborhood in his car, he loves to pick up pinecones, rocks, golf balls, etc. and put them in the hood compartment, then add them all to his collection when we get home.  Anyone with a toddler knows how much they love to “put in and take out”!

Every morning when we come downstairs, my son looks outside at his car and asks to go for a ride.  It’s a great way to take a long walk with your toddler, while allowing him to have a bit more fun than in a regular stroller. 

Available on Amazon.com for $59.99:

I recently purchased this for my son after he loved playing with it at a friend’s house. It’s a little magna-doodle type toy where he can scribble with the magnetic pen, and erase by moving the little lady bug up and down. The animal-shaped magnets allow you to put little cat, dog, bunny, and duck shapes on your drawing. Or, as my son does, just make the entire screen black in no time!

The reviews of this product talk about how the lady bug is hard to move for erasing your drawings. That was a problem on our friend’s toy but not on my son’s. I think Parents may have taken the criticism and fixed it. Other reviews mention that the animal shaped magnets fell out too easily and got lost. I think Parents “fixed” that, too, because my only criticism of this toy would be that the animal shapes are too hard to remove from their holding places. Sometimes you can’t win.

I bought the Leap Frog Fridge Farm magnetic animal set for my son for Christmas. His cousin received one when she was about a year old, and I thought it was so cute. I have bought these for several of my friends’ kids for their first birthdays, and I always get great feedback. As the name suggests, you put this toy up on your refrigerator. Your child can change the animal pieces, and when he pushes them, the animal he has created will sing a song and make the appropriate animal sounds. So, if you put the cow front and the cow rear together, it sings a song about a cow and moos. If you put the cow front and the duck rear together it sings, “You put a cow in front, you put a duck behind, put them together, and what do you find? A cow-duck? That’s silly!” and it will both moo and quack. It’s very cute, teaches animals, colors, and animal sounds.

My son plays with the Fridge Farm in the kitchen while I prepare dinner. My only problem with it is that since it is in the kitchen, the pieces end up on the floor, underfoot, and I sometimes stumble over them while I am cooking.

My son got a Tickle Me Elmo for Christmas. At first, he was afraid of it. The first time we “tickled” Elmo, and he fell over laughing, my son cried. For two days, he would whimper when he saw Elmo. It seemed almost as though he thought Elmo had been hurt. So, we turned Elmo off and just let my son play with him like a regular stuffed animal. After a few days, we “tickled” him again, and my son thought it was funny. Now, he thinks it’s hilarious when Elmo rolls on the ground laughing. Honestly, this toy is hilarious. I suppose it would get old fast if you tickled him all the time, but it’s really cute. The first time you tickle him, he laughs, falls over and gets back up. But if you tickle him again, he laughs harder and longer, falling on his back and howling with laughter. The third time you tickle him, he rolls on his side, then on his belly kicking his feet. It’s so cute and infectious. Just be aware, your child may take a few days to see the humor.

My son’s cousin bought this toy for him in a Secret Santa exchange. I don’t think I have ever seen my son take to a new toy so quickly. When you turn the wheel, Elmo says “This way! The other way! Where ARE you going?” When you honk the horn, Bert says “Ahooohhhga, honk honk.” Push the radio buttons and Oscar the grouch says “All garbage, all the time.” and more. It’s a cute toy, my son loves to honk the horn and push the radio buttons over and over and over. You know how it is.

My son got TWO of these for Christmas — obviously, it’s a popular puzzle for a 17-month-old. It’s great for this age, with big knobs that make it easy to manipulate the pieces. There are pictures underneath the pieces to help your child learn shapes — footballs are oval, stop signs are octagons, etc.

My parents bought this for my son for Christmas. It’s so adorable to see him stand there and draw on the chalkboard. It’s nice and small, so perfect for a toddler. The chalk pieces are nice and big, easy for a toddler to grip. Also, it folds flat for storage, so you can easily put it out of the way. My son loves it. He goes right to it every morning, scribbles for a bit, then claps as he admires his work. It definitely inspires creativity. In addition, it’s a good place to work on teaching the alphabet. There is also a clip at the top, so you can clip paper onto the easel to do artwork with pens, markers, paint, etc.

I just bought my 23-month-old niece a green Bilibo for Christmas, and I am so excited. I’ve been so curious about these, I can’t wait to find out what she thinks of it!

My son received the Mega Blok Fill & Dump Wagon for his first birthday. At that time, he wasn’t quite ready for it, but now at 16 months, it’s perfect. It’s a versatile toy that fosters creativity and develops fine motor skills. My son loves to take all the pieces out, put them back in, take them out and put them together, take them apart and put them back in, then dump the whole thing out. Oh, then put them all back in, one at a time. Anyone with a toddler knows what I mean about their seemingly endless ability to take objects out of and put them back into a container. It’s also a wagon with a handle, so he can pull it around the room as he gathers up the blocks to put inside. He really has a lot of fun with this toy, and as he gets older, he’ll have fun building more creative structures using the blocks.