toys

Alicia Asks: Now that Trent's getting a little older and starting to explore, what are some of his favorite things? Toys? Things around the house? has he started to get into things that he really shouldn't be getting into? have you had to really baby proof yet? In addition to what things Trent likes to play with, what do 'mommy and daddy' like to play with, with Trent? This might be the same answer, but I know there are some things I love and think are adorable that Jude could care less about.

Trent has very few toys right now - which is the way Kevin and I purposely have it. Kevin is more anti-toy than I am, however, I obviously agree with Kevin to an extent or else I would be buying toys left and right anyway. A couple weeks ago we were at BRU and Kevin took Trent over to the toy aisles. The plan was for Trent to show interest in a toy or two, and we'd buy it/them. Well, Trent was equally bored with each toy - so we left toyless. In the meantime, at home, Trent is still playing with the same toys he's been playing with for 4+ months. Right now his favorite toy is probably his blue putter. He bangs it on the floor, puts the end in his mouth, etc. He still shows some interest in his music table thing, and the bright colored shapes he got at Christmas time from Gore (thanks grandmom), but that's about it. He'll focus on some other toys but only for a minute or two before he moves on. Sometimes I feel like he needs new toys to keep him interested, but other times I wonder if he's just too distracted by the world around him to sit and play. His main interests right now seem to be climbing people, trying to stand, and crawl around. "Crawl around" includes finding new items (a.k.a. ANYTHING) to "play with" and chew on - be it a shoe, a hammer, Maggie's foot, Maggie's ear, paper of any kind, etc. Last night I removed a piece of dogfood from his mouth (thanks to Maggie - the dog who brings her food into the living room to eat).

I think our most favorite thing to do with Trent is try to make him laugh. There's just nothing better in the world!!

As far as baby proofing is concerned: we've padded the hearth, installed one baby gate, and moved all the chemical stuff that was stored under our sink to a high shelf. We plan to get tamper-proof receptacles for the living room and another baby gate for the stairs....and I might put padding on the corners of the coffee table as well. Oh, and we really need to lower his crib. He hasn't stood up in his crib yet, but I'm sure it's going to happen sooner than later.