Puzzled...
The things you learn as a new mother.
Point #1: This is a cute toy, don't you think? I thought this little horse was gonna be a hit! Brightly colored, easy to grab and hold, an exciting feature making the toy vibrate and make jingly sounds when you pull the top...
Oh, yeah. I'd found a winner. And only after spending thirty minutes wandering the halls of the monstrous and overwhelming Babies R Us! Score. I thought to myself, I've really found something good. Lois is going to love this.
Of course, this was when she was around four months old and still a little too young to really "play" with this oh-so-fantastic toy on her own. So all the fun features that I thought she'd love? You know, bright colors...fun vibrating feature...I was totally wrong.
Her favorite feature of this toy is the plethora of tags that stems from the horse's hind end. Nice.
What is it about tags that babies have this serious love affair with?
What really frustrates me is once upon a time, I thought I was being a responsible mother by cutting all the tags off her toys. Luckily, this one was spared from my scissor mania and she blissfully sucks on these tags all the time. Silly mom! Now we have several toys that are rendered useless because they don't have tags! How was I supposed to know? I certainly didn't read, "Warning: If you cut off the tags of your child's toys, he/she will never want to play with them. Ever." in any of my mommy books.
Point #2: What is it about the cell phone? Every time I am on my phone or even have it near me, Lois starts freaking out and wants to eat it - like that instant! And if I try to hide it, she throws a mini tantrum. Like a smart mom, I got my old cell phone out and thought, She's gonna love this. Quite the contrary. She knows the difference. How does an eight month old know the difference? She's such a smarty pants.
I've also heard this same scenario with keys. Lois loves to chew, suck and slobber all over my keys. She loves them. I was discussing this with another mother and she told me that her daughter had the same affinity towards her keys so she made a nearly exact replica of her keys (minus the keyless entry device) and had given them to her daughter. Within seconds, she threw them to the ground and made a b-line for her actual set of keys with a mocking expression: Nice try, mom, nice try. I guess I won't be trying that anytime soon.
Point #3: Paper, paper, paper. What Babies R Us needs to sell is non-toxic paper brochures, catalogues, mail, etc. They could make a killing! While I worried about Lois eating paper for months, I've thrown caution to the wind and just let her eat the darn paper sometimes. She loves it. I mean, who am I to stop her from the pure enjoyment of soaking paper with her saliva? Maybe one day she'll realize that it really doesn't taste that good.
Recap: As a new mom, I have learned that babies don't really like toys all that much. They just like anything and everything that isn't a toy and that shouldn't be eaten, chewed on, etc. Added to this list? Plastic bags, the rubbery tip of a baby Tylenol bottle, power chords of any kind, my comb, her hair brushes, plastic cups...
Yet here I am...still a sucker for cute baby toys. And I buy another little toy nearly every time I go in any baby section. I just can't help myself.
9 comments:
oh yes, the tip of the tylenol bottle!
connor and logan both loved those the best...
Thanks for the advice---even if it is VERY VERY early advice, I will remember it always! I'm never cutting off those tags!
They also like the boxes better then what is inside. The bigger the box the better (then they can fit inside). =)
And plastic measuring cups. I swear it really is funny how much better they like the things that weren't actually meant to be toys. Have you heard of "Taggies". Some brilliant mom somewhere realized the tag attraction and her toys have zillions of ribbon like tags poking out all over the place. Brilliant!
You are so funny. I love reading your mommy adventures. Glad she found something to play with!!
these are good tips for that eventual day for me. thanks, lili :)
lindsay (who emerges from her blog-stalking to make her first comment :)
Haha! I read your post going, "yup, uh-huh, oh, I know!" Tags are the best, and real toys are for decoration only. I once had someone who thought we couldn't afford any toys and bought Emmeline a bag of them...because at church she played constanly with only a highlighter and her Mary Janes.
It's so funny the things we come to realize as mothers and when it happens. I remember all of these same developments when Jack was that age and wondering why the heck no one had told me about this weird stuff. I guess I probably wouldn't have believed it until I experienced it myself anyway. You make me laugh. :)
I second what Melissa said about "taggies" or "tag blankets" - they're just little square blankets with different "tags" of lace and ribbon sewed all the way around the edges. Email Sarah Woodbury - she knows how to make them.
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