Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

Halloween has not yet arrived and I already find myself fretting over what to get DD for her first Christmas. I do so prefer to finish my shopping early, so as to avoid being trampled to death beneath a herd of shoppers scrambling for $10 DVD players at Walmart.

The trouble is, DH had recently made me aware of some rather serious deficiencies in my parenting. Specifically, my ability to choose suitable toys for DD.

I am one of those moms that more competent parents (like DH) speak of in hushed tones while shaking their heads reproachfully.

See, I had bought DD a toy, an inappropriate toy. Clearly, I had not put much thought into the wisdom of giving such a toy to an infant.

I should have known better.

Fortunately, DH has "raised three children and has a granddaughter," and does know better, so he was able to correct me on the matter.

Here is the toy I had been so neglectful in allowing DD to play with:



At first glance, it may seem quite harmless, however, if you peer a bit more closely...

...you will see all those little pieces in there. Now, while I had thought this was commonly known as a "rattle", it turns out that it is actually a "choking hazard."

It is. All those little pieces are unsafe.

DH told me so.

I humbly accepted this embarrassing correction to my dangerous parenting choices. Still, I was trembling with fear over having to pick out appropriate toys for DD's Christmas.

What if my lack of sense lead me to buy her a chainsaw or a pencil sharpener?

Much to my good fortune, DH stepped in to provide me with some brilliant ideas during one of his visits with DD.

Prizing literacy himself, and wanting DD to get an early start on learning her alphabet, specifically the letters C, A, U, T, I, O, and N, DH found this nice bit of dirty plastic "caution" tape at the construction site around my home.

At first, I had questioned DH about the advisability of allowing DD to play with plastic. Not to worry, though, because DH assured me that he would "not let her do anything to harm herself."

Then, I was troubled over the dirtiness of the plastic tape.

Again, it was a misplaced concern. A brief browsing of the Internet informed me that dirt is a source of the valuable vitamin B-12.

Heaven forbid DD develop scurvy, rickets, or some other nutrient deficiency due to my lack of attentiveness to her intake of filth.

Another part of DD's playtime routine with DH consists of learning timekeeping. She has already developed a familiarity with digital watches that far exceeds that of her peers. While DH particularly enjoys letting her chew on his watch, it is not something I need to worry about. DH takes his watch out of her mouth periodically to make sure no little pieces have fallen off.

Again, I had been slightly bothered by the fact that this watch spends much of its time in the ocean with DH while he is surfing. He surfs sometimes when the beach is closed due to a sewage spill. But I'm sure all the poopy germs evaporate before he puts the watch in DD's mouth

I was also inspired by this toy. Notice the loose lid and removable plastic ring. These are great for helping babies develop fine motor skills.

With all of DH's great baby toy ideas in mind, I thought I'd try my hand at coming up with some ideas of my own.

Since she is teething, I was thinking that a bit of barbed wire might be just the thing to help her cut her teeth. I was also thinking that a bag of marbles would be great manipulatives for teaching her how to count. Maybe she would even be up to learning addition and subtraction.

That's really all I could come up with for now. But I believe DH will be back again this weekend to visit, so I will keep my eyes peeled for more ideas.