A Man and His Toys
In the past few weeks, Beanie has discovered that he has the ability to put things in his mouth. He’s gotten much better at working his arms and hands, so he can actually get things into his mouth on purpose now. This means much of my time is now spent fishing things out of his mouth.
Like the dog’s toy. Or my headband. Or Molly’s tail.
Whatever he can get his grubby little hands on, you can be sure its going in his mouth.
This is funny because he also has discovered his vocal chords which means that as he is shoving things into his mouth, he is simultaneously yelling and babbling, making him sound muffled and really darn funny. I think he sounds like the adults on the Charlie Brown cartoons. “Waa waa waa waa waa.”
He talks to his toys like they are his best friends. When his toys say something funny, he laughs like a crazy person. When his toys say something intelligent, he stares at them and ponders the meaning of life. When his toys say something mean, he spontaneously breaks out in tears. He has a very emotional relationship with his toys.
Right now, most of his toys are little hand toys. Plush rattles, stuffed animals with ears that crinkle, this weird round disc toy that looks really boring but that Beanie really likes. Anything he can hold in his hand and wave around.
Sometimes I worry about him sucking on those plush fabric toys. What if they are dirty? What if he accidentally sucks some of the stuffing out? And more than any of that, what if I have to touch them after he’s slobbered all over them???
But Beanie doesn’t seem to care. Plush, fabric, plastic, rubber, or vibrating. He’ll take ’em all.
But usually, even with all those great toys around for him to play with, Beanie always goes back to his favorite toys. The two that the Good Lord gave him. He can swing them around, hurl them at Mom’s face, curl them in hair, pick up things, put things down, grab a dog. His hands are just the best.
And apparently they are pretty tasty, too.
Because I’m always curious about what other babies are playing with, I’m going to start posting Beanie’s top five favorite toys of the week in the scrolling thing to the left. And if you have a baby who has a favorite toy, let me know in the comments section. I wouldn’t want Beanie to miss out on some fantastic new toy while he sits there sucking his fist.
Although, he doesn’t seem to mind the fist thing.
18 Comments
Ashley
I swear I think I say this every single time I leave a comment, but Beanie is the cutest baby ever! I love that dark hair and those beautiful big eyes! He is going to be a HEARTBREAKER 🙂
Zoe
It’s so amazing seeing him grow <3
Casey
Bet you can’t wait till he’s big enough to fall in love with the cardboard box that his next big toy comes in 😉
Lori @ I Can Grow People
Porter also has the brown, light blue, orange and light green fuzzy rattle thing with the mirror on the inside and the plastic rings. For some reason, Porter doesn’t really like any of the teething things we have for him. He throws them around, but that is about it. He much rather chew on his Soothie pacifier, his hand or a burp cloth.
naomi
I SOOO sympathize with you about the plush toys and picking up ones that have been slobbered all over. ICK.
And yea, I think of them shoving this slobbery wet fabric in their mouth, then dropping it on some nasty bacteria covered surface and then cramming it back inside their mouth. *shudders*
So gross.
Diane
As a new mom of an almost 7 month girl who is teething, right now her favorite toy is a rubber spatula from the kitchen. She can chew on it but look out when she starts swinging it around.
I love your blog. This is one of the first sites that I go to every morning.
Katie
What a clever idea!! Lord knows I don’t know what to do with a spatula, so why not give it to Beanie?!?!?
Michelle Uhlfelder
Katie- you have to buy this one: http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Lights-Melodies-Discovery-Center/dp/B000HZBZ16/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1254151376&sr=1-10
Henry can’t get enough of it and it ‘grows’ with them- doing all different types of positions. And it’s super portible! We’re about to go on vacation to North Carolina for a week (we really want to see the leaves change) and take Henry with us. We can take this one with us. So into the cute toy bar you have- it’s now on my wish list! 🙂
-Michelle
andrea
well right now AJ’s favorite toys are cars, any size, shape or material. typical 2 year old boy i guess. he has his night time puppy which is a TY brand blue and white dog that someone got him when he was born. he can’t go to sleep without it now, well more like he won’t go to sleep without it. he sucks his thumb and rubs the little tail on his upper lip, nothing like puppy butt when you are falling asleep right?
when he was about 8 months old he had a set of neon rubber teethers shaped like butterflies, he loved those things. it was a sad day when we lost them, luckily though he moved on to chewing on something else pretty quickly so i didn’t have to rush out and find another set.
we’ll see what the next kid likes, 30 days and counting wish me luck! it will probably have to be another c-section too.
Katie
Sucking his thumb and rubbing the puppy tail on his face? Oh! Be still my heart! So ADORABLE!!!
Fingers crossed about the c-section…
Amber
My 8.5 month old loves her sippy cup. It is about the only thing that helps her calm down when she is sick of her carseat. I fill it with cold water and she bites on the sippy part and lets the water run over her gums. It soothes the teething, gives her something to chew on and calms her down. I try to only give it to her on the way home from where ever we have been because she tends to get wet. We are hoping that the cup will ease the transition from her bottle when she is a year.
Katie
I am fascinated by the fact that your 8.5 month old can manuever a sippy cup!! Does she actually drink out of it or is she playing with it for her gums? Do tell!!
Jayme
My son has always loved his Glo Worm. My mom gave it to him for a Christmas gift, and I always thought it was so girly ( I had one when I was little) but since then, he has loved it and still does to this day!Also, Target has some soft rubber blocks that make squeaky sounds( there are 10 of them) and they are great for chewing on! Pretty soon he will be moving on to the “Big Boy” toys, you know, the Wii and X-Box controllers. My son loves to chew on them and push the buttons and makes the lights come on.
Ann
My babe is 4 months old and his favorite teether is Sophie the Giraffe made by Vulli. Go find Sophie – she’s natural rubber (so latex allergies could be an issue) and made with food dyes. We HEART Sophie! That grape toy that Beanie has is also a favorite in our household!
erin
My 5-mo-old Hannah’s favorite toys lately are burpies. She stuffs them in her mouth and rubs them all over her face, and then waves them around and giggles and shrieks. It’s hysterical. Also makes me wonder, why in the world did I spend money on toys when I could have just given her a burpie?
Katie
That’s so funny because I am just starting to notice Beanie playing more with his burp cloths, too. He holds them and chews on them and sleeps with them. At first I thought it was gross cause they are…well…burp cloths. But he love them!! Glad to know its not just my baby!
TeamHaynes
If I didn’t live so far away I would be demanding to babysit. Heck, take a weekend for all I care! I feel more educated from your site. Its like taking child development all over again.
boomerangs
The stuffed, plush, cudddly or soft toys vary from animals like Simba the lion, Yogi the bear and Daisy the cow, to objects like multi colored balls.