Educational Toys?....I'll take the.....

I spend so much time and energy trying to figure out how I can stimulate Miles' mind in new ways. As you can see from the previous post, at times I have resorted to pots and pans (simple pleasures). I have threaded shoe laces through wooden spatulas, put uncooked noodles in old cottage cheese containers, and put myself in a variety of contorted positions just for a laugh.

We don't really have a tonne of toys (although he also hasn't had a birthday yet either), we buy new ones here and there (mostly second hand, as we never know if he's going to like them or not) because we think he's bored of the old ones, but that doesn't seem to be the case. We bring the toys home, put them together, feel completely accomplished that we constructed it properly and Miles takes one look and bangs on the floor with his block. Not interested in the least. He's not bored with his toys, he just has no interest in them what so ever. He really is content with climbing stairs, ripping my favorite books, opening the door closing the door, opening the door closing the door, opening the door closing the door, and eating Starbucks coffee cups.

We spend a lot of our time outdoors walking and pointing. The horticulturalist in me will have him identifying the rarest of plants in no time. Miles points at a tree and instead of me saying "tree", I say "that's a Norway Maple, or that's a Redbud". I then correct myself and say "Norway Maple Tree". On our walks he points out flowers all the time too. It kills me to just say "flower" and leave it at that (I want to say Trillium, Tulip, Peony) .

The other portion of our time is dedicated to feeding, cruising around the house, eating Chewy's dog food, dropping things in Chewy's water dish, dive bombing off the bed, and reading reading reading. The kid LOVES his books. Unfortunately we inherited a Barney book at some point in time, and well...It's the only book that makes him laugh hysterically upon opening. Yes this makes me cringe. I'm just hoping he's laughing at the absurdity of Barney, and not just because he's a fun loving purple freaking dinosaur. He did learn to say (and point out) baby from the book so I guess I do owe Barney a bit of credit.


Miles' Top Five Favorite Toys of the Week.

#5 Plastic container with 7 stale Cheerio's inside.
Ideal of shaking, banging, chewing, and throwing.













#4 Phone Book.
The only phone book in the house containing all numbers (argh).
Ideal of slobbering all over, throwing, and passing to mom (over and over again).













#3 Door Stop
Ideal for making boingy noise.
A personal favorite of the neighbor's I'm sure.











#2 Shoe laces through wooden spatula.
This one speaks for itself.













IT'S A TIE
#1 Pop can.
No brand preference.
Along with fabric softener sheets, this kid would crawl any distance to get his hand on one precious aluminum can. I have to stuff it with cloth so that he doesn't cut himself.



















#1 Remote Controls
Ideal for sucking, raising volume, lowering volume, and changing channels.
It's a miracle these remotes even work anymore.