I've been on a quest for new toys for my six-month-old boy. That six-month-old stage is a new era. There are all manner of toys out there that are six months and up, so as a mom who loves to spend much of the day on the floor playing with him, I'm pumped. It's not just a new toy for the baby; it's a new toy for Mom! He's surrounded by toys in our living room, but only one or two catch his eye---the ball popper being the toy of choice. The rest seem to be "baby" toys to him. He wants the ball popper on constantly. The second it stops, he grunts for it to start again. Well, we went toy shopping the other day, and let me just say, don't rely on a six-month-old's reaction in the store to determine what to buy. For many toys, he just gnawed his fist and ignored everything I presented to him. Meanwhile, I'm setting off every toy in the store. About seven toys are playing music at once because I move on to a new one before cutting off the previous one. I'm sure the other shoppers are loving that! Then we reached the learning toys section and the little puppy caught his eye. He smiled at him, or was it my silly faces? Then the alphabet wheel spinny thingy that plays the alphabet and animal sounds---this he not only interacted with, but grunted as if he wanted to keep playing it. That's it! After an hour of searching, this is the one. Thank you, my sweet one, for making this easy. You can guess the rest. We got home. I spent 10 minutes unwinding the twist ties that had the toy bound to the box harder than lock and key. Exhausted, I place the toy in front of him. He gives it a spin. A new toy. Something different than the same ole same ole. This mom is happy. But after a few whirls, I look at my child's face, and see that he is peering above and beyond the new toy to a familiar sight---yes, the ball popper. Maybe I should give up the search for a new toy and just buy more balls. Right now we have 7 in the thing. It might be pretty exciting to see about 15 or so balls popping away. Of course, until he starts crawling, I'm the one who has to fetch them. I'll not give up, though, on this quest for new, exciting toys. There must be something out there that can rival the ball popper. Momma needs a new toy!
Oh, on a side note, a funny thing happened during one of my toy shopping excursions. I was shopping in a store and the toys and clothes are located near one another. I was pushing the stroller down the clothing aisle. Another lady was on the next aisle over, and I kept hearing what sounded like a cat meowing. I thought it was that lady, so I tried to avoid her the whole time, thinking, "This lady is meowing. I'm steering clear of her." A few minutes later, as I get closer to the toys, I hear the noise loud and clear. Inside a box sits a stuffed kitty meowing away. I had to laugh at myself.
