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View Full Version : Ho! Ho! Ho! Suggestions for Santa???



dd_ani
10-10-2002, 11:42 PM
Yes, it is early. Yes, I know that there isn't even a hint of snow on the ground (at least in Ohio!). But I would like to start my holiday shopping early. This way, I have plenty of time for all of those internet orders to come in, and hopefully some time to sit down with some egg nog in front of the fire instead of wrapping like a fiend up until Christmas Eve... (HA! With a crawling/cruising kiddo? Who am I kidding???)

Seriously, though, I would appreciate any suggestions out there for great holiday gifts. DD will be about 10 months old for the holidays, but I am sure if there are great gift suggestions for other ages, everyone would be interested.

Thanks in advance! :)

Michelle

Rachels
10-11-2002, 06:48 AM
Check out www.iqkids.com. They have wonderful stuff and have a "toys by age" category. Happy shopping! And FWIW, after we were little babies, Santa Claus did not wrap presents at our house. We'd come downstairs to a glorious display of stuff, never feeling a bit cheated, and it was a major timesaver for Santa and the elves! :)

-Rachel
Mommy to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

egoldber
10-11-2002, 06:24 PM
Of the things that Sarah got for her first birthday, these are her favorites: Fisher Price Little People Barn, Megablocks (hers came in a small red wagon that she really likes), 3 piece wooden puzzles, and board books.

She has lots of other toys (too many!), but those 3 toys, a shelf full of board books (mostly from TJ Maxx) and the Tupperware in the kitchen cabinets keep her occupied most of the day. :)

HTH,

suzska
10-12-2002, 01:53 PM
LOL!! For Evan it's the empty yogurt containers these days that hold the most interest.

Did I mention I am DONE with my Christmas shopping for this year! Well, okay, done with shopping for Evan. My family has decided to "skip" Christmas gifts (except for Evan) so that we can all afford to go to Disney World in January. ;-) :-) :-) I just have to find out if we're exchanging gifts with Evan's cousins on DH's side of the family (3 girls, 1 boy). And buy little gifts for my cousins' kids on my side of the family (already got 2 girls, need 1 girl and 2 boys). I figure if nothing else, I'll pick up a bunch of $10 gift cards for Barnes and Noble or something. That way if we're not exchanging gifts, I can always use the gift cards. But that doesn't help you.

Evan's getting the Little People Barn for Christmas (along with a TON of other Little People stuff--my brother and I found a bunch of the vehicle sets on clearance at local stores going out of business). I also got him some Baby Einstein (replacing the videos we already have) and Sesame Street DVD's.

Evan has the Mega Blocks wagon you mentioned--got that for his birthday. He's not into building things so much, but likes to push the wagon around and carry the blocks all over the house. He's also into lift-the-flap board books now.

The one thing he got last year that he still loves to this day is the Baby Smartronics Nursery Rhymes Bus from Fisher-Price. I also got him the Fun Years Preschool Musical Mobile Phone from TRU (I think it's a TRU exclusive brand). I like this one a lot better than any of the other toy phones I've seen out there, but I've never seen it online. Evan also got the Intelli-table last year, and still plays with that sometimes.

egoldber
10-12-2002, 02:32 PM
I didn't mean to suggest that Sarah "builds" anything with her Megablocks. She mainly likes to dump out the wagon, push the wagon, bang the blocks together, throw the blocks, chew on the blocks, occasionally put a block back in the wagon, etc ....

Same with the puzzles. She doesn't actually "work" the puzzles. She dumps out the pieces, chews on the pieces, sucks the knobs on the pieces (like a pacifier, it's very strange to watch), bangs the pieces, together, etc.....

I'm sure some day she'll play with these toys appropriately, but for now, whatever keeps her happy and entertained is fine by me! LOL!

suzska
10-13-2002, 11:06 PM
Evan likes to dump the blocks and then fling/spread them across the floor (sort of a sweeping motion with his hands), laughing the entire time because he knows Mom just picked them up and put them away (we also have the Mega Bloks with the gears on the container so there's a ton of blocks for him to fling around). Sometimes he will put two together, but pulls them back apart right away. He likes to point to each one and have us say the color, or he'll hold one up for us to name. It's cute because it's like HE'S quizzing US. Sometimes he will point to the right color when you ask. His favorite color is red, and usually once he picks up one of those he keeps it in his right hand while he points/grabs at the other blocks with his left. He doesn't put anything in the wagon. He's not interested in knocking down any towers we build, but he will de-construct them piece by piece until all of the blocks are separated again.

But mainly he just likes to push his cars around or bite his stuffed animals on the noses--that's how he shows his affection to them. Sometimes I'd swear he was a puppy dog because he'll carry the animals around in his teeth. LOL!

I also bought him a Leap Frog Phonics Pond last week (he likes pushing buttons and is getting interested in the Alphabet). He curled up on the futon with me today and just kept playing music with it (one of the modes plays snip-its of music when you press a letter). I like that it's pretty compact and not very annoying (I probably like playing with it as much as Evan does). The age on it is 3 and up, but Evan seems to like it a lot at 19 months. I looked around at a bunch of these, and this one seemed like the best deal to me. And it doesn't have an annoying computer voice like the VTech one.

Okay, it's late and I'm rambling, so I'm going to logoff now....