Rudy's almost at the age when she can begin to appreciate toys. To us, this means an exciting new chapter, since for the first few weeks, babies really don't do much. It's amazing to think that we're nearly out of newborn territory and on the verge of raising an actual person!
A couple of weeks ago, we bought Rudy a set of high-contrast flashcards and this has been the first "toy" that she's shown any interest in. Babies don't see well at first so we were amazed to watch her focus on the cards with a look of amazement. At the time, it was rare to actually see her eyes widen enough for her to look at something and right away, she seemed to actually show preferences for certain cards.
We didn't buy or register for many toys while I was pregnant (although some generous friends ensured that our house was still well stocked) and the beginning of this new chapter with Rudy means that we're not far from her actually being able to play! I can't wait until Rudy can actually understand toys.
Here are some of my favourites:
I've already mentioned that we're big fans of the educational wooden toys by Plan Toys. We don't have the dancing alligator but it's one of our "go to" birthday gifts for the children of friends and it always seems to be a big hit.
Rudy's first social smile occurred while we were reading her a book with lots of different baby's faces. We think it helps her social development to look at pictures of babies. Here's a good one.
We use flash cards, but there are plenty of high-contrast books like this one.
Yes, that's a photo (below) of Rudy watching a video when she was about five weeks old. Try not to judge us too harshly, though. While we try not to rely on television or videos too much, we're only human and Rudy loves this YouTube video, which shows high-contrast shapes moving to classical music.
That pacifier in her mouth is her WubbaNub. It was a gift from friends and it's the only pacifier she'll take.
Rudy hasn't discovered her hands and feet yet. I'm not concerned about the timeline but I wonder if she'd like a rattle set like this one.
This book was nearly impossible to find but I found a used copy on Amazon. It was one of my favourite nighttime books when I was little.
Rudy's still far too young, but when she's a little older, we're going to have so much fun reading pop-up books to her. I love the amazing books by Matthew Van Fleet
We have so many exciting years of playing to come! What are your favourite children's toys?
