A one year old's favorite toys...did I buy any of them?

He scoots, he babbles, he plays with toys! I have a toddler and all of a sudden different plastic and wooden trinkets elicit the biggest smiles of the day.

I find it hard not to want to give my child all of the toys I once loved. I was probably a day pregnant when I started searching for wooden blocks on the Internet. I still miss my Fisher Price record player. I wonder if they have little ipod docks that are kid friendly...

I have a prejudice against any talking, light up, signing, toys. How annoying! It would seem obvious to me that those toys are an insult to my baby's intelligence.

This past Christmas, Joaquin was only eight months old, so we knew that it would be silly to go overboard. My husband and I don't exchange gifts anymore, but we bought a few things for Joaquin. We gave him some plushies in the shapes of athletic balls, legos, and a kit to make paper bag puppets. No bells, no whistles. At that age a great toy was anything he could put in his mouth or drop on the floor, so we did pretty good.

On his first birthday things had changed. He is interacting with objects more. There is stuff in the world that fascinates him, like robins and cars. We bought him toys, and family gave him toys, and friends gave him toys. Sometimes it seems like we have toys in most corners of our house!

As the days post birthday rolled by, there were some clear winners in the toy department.
1) The cake. Okay, I never in two trillion years would have picked this out. It is everything I despise in a toy. It sings birthday songs with lines like "we're having a birthday we're singing it live." There are five candles that light up and a sensor so you can blow out the candles (okay, I admit to thinking that last feature is kind of cool). Joaquin is obsessed with it. Obsessed. He pushes the buttons over and over and bobs his little head to the music. He can spot it across the room and butt-hops over to it in seconds. He points to it and does his 'I love you' coo.
I really can't complain. This cake buys me some time. I can run down some laundry, jump on my rebounder, or even take a shower.
2) Mankind. This wasn't a birthday present. It was actually a Christmas present for my husband about 3 years ago. While visiting my family back home, my nephew looked at my man and said, "you look like Mankind." We both asked who that was. My brother cracked up and said "he does look like Mankind." He brought up Mankind's photo on some wrestling website. I saw something about a wrestler named Triple H.
"Who's Triple H?" I asked. "A co-worker used to call me that."
My brother laughed again. "Your going to be pissed." The following Christmas we received Mankind and Triple H in the mail.
Anyway, Mankind does kind of look like my baby's dad, so maybe that's why he takes this figure all over town. A couple of weeks ago we were attending baby story hour and I looked in Joaquin's lap and there was Mankind. I didn't even know he had him. As far as I can remember, Mankind was the first toy my baby knew by name.
3) The inchworm. This colorful caterpillar rolls across the floor when you push down on it's back, or pull it backwards. This cracks my child up to no end. He can't quite figure out how it works yet, but I best not walk by with it in my hand if I don't want to play "ready, set, go."
4) The old school clock.
I'm not sure if I personally had this toy, but if you are over 30, you've seen it. It's just one of those things you saw in every toy box, garage sale, and dentist's office. Fisher Price has been pulling at my heartstrings and re-releasing some of it's old toys like real wooden Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys. He seems to love figuring out how the knob in the back controls the music.
5) Golf ball, bouncy ball, sky ball, or mom's balancing ball. Any kind of ball, or even things that resemble a ball and can be chucked across the room, like an apple.
I probably can't convince you with a picture, but my son can throw! It's kinda crazy. His aim is very good and right now I have to say balls are the big winner in the gift line up.
And I didn't buy any of these.

I'm sure this will all change. Maybe even by the time I publish this post! But I don't worry...there are plenty of toys out there. The library saves the day!