Not for Travis and I, but for Avery! I am really looking forward to Christmas this year! Avery still won't really know what it's all about, but she does get excited for new toys! This year, we've decided that her big gift will be a play kitchen! I can't wait!! We haven't made our final decision on which one to get, but we've narrowed it down to a few wooden ones by KidKraft. I prefer the look of the wooden ones over the plastic ones. They are honestly just so adorable! We're debating between a light pink 'retro' style, or a modern espresso kitchen with stainless steel appliances. I really like them both, and it's going to be tough to choose! The pink one doesn't really go with the style of our home (we tend to lean toward modern in home design) but it would look adorable in her room. I'm planning on putting it in her room, but if we decide to keep it downstairs, the modern kitchen would look nicer. Either way, it's going to be so fun! I plan on putting it together the night before we give it to her.
I've also been looking at smaller toys for her, and it's easy to feel overwhelmed in trying to choose! While I realize that toys help children learn, sometimes I feel like kids have too many toys. There are so many toys that have become "electronic" and almost make it so that kids don't have to be creative anymore, because the toys do it for them. I try to pick out things that don't do everything, and encourage creativity. Some of the smaller items I'm thinking about getting Avery for Christmas are Lego Duplos, and some type of musical instrument (like a toy piano, or drums, or guitar.) Avery loves music, and she has some music players and a kids CD, but I think she would like something where she could make her own music. I went to the store yesterday, just to look around, and it's would be so easy to get off track and buy her a bunch of things that I wasn't even planning. Luckily, I am making a plan, but I have to say, the toy marketers do a good job. They make me want to buy everything for her!
I have to keep in mind that while toys are fun at playtime, I want Avery to be able to be able to entertain herself for certain times without toys. We go outside almost every day, and sometimes we go on our playset, but sometimes we make a game of just running up and down our hill in the backyard. I also like to take her and Ranger for short walks in our neighborhood and pick up leaves and sticks and acorns. This is the kind of thing I feel like is missing for a lot of kids. I know I'm doing pretty well at this because of how well Avery does in the jogging stroller and car. She will ride in the jogging stroller for up to an hour with no toys for entertainment; just relaxing and enjoying nature (I think...haha.) She also does great int the car! We went to Hilton Head in August, and I did bring toys in the car, and our IPad with the PBS kids app. However, I would estimate that she only really needed entertainment for about half the trip down and back. The other half she was content to just sit and look out the window and 'talk/babble.' Just last weekend I took her and my mom to Pittsburgh (just over 2 hours away.) She didn't have any toys in her car seat for this trip. She stayed awake the whole way over and just babbled and was happy.
This is the kind of thing that I want to keep encouraging...but I'm still really looking forward to her new kitchen!!
No comments:
Post a Comment