Here's what will be under the tree from Santa on Christmas morning.
(Ok, not exactly...the tree is 4 ft tall and currently sitting on top of our entertainment center.)
I figure if nothing else, maybe this will serve to spark some ideas with those of you with similarly-aged toddlers or those who have toddlers to shop for!
1.) Signing Time Vol. 1 - My first signs.
Julian has been picking up a few signs here and there, some through me and some through a Baby Einstein DVD that he has. He seems to be at the perfect age to make use of them too, so I finally broke down and bought his first Signing Time DVD. They're not cheap - but they are very fun and entertaining, and I can't wait to see what signs he picks up from them. Right now he's able to sign "more", "all done", "milk" and "eat"...a couple of which are on the video, but there are other fairly easy ones for him to grow into as well. I've actually already got this video about memorized thanks to using it with kids at work - and I'm really thinking he's going to enjoy it.
2.) Melissa and Doug's Frolicking Frog Pull Toy
This was a fairly last minute addition after seeing how much joy he got one morning out of dragging a half-rolled roll of toilet paper around the house behind him. My first choice would have been a doggie he could walk, but all the dogs seemed to have gotten bad reviews...so we're going with this frog! My only worry is the very BALL shaped eyes...lets hope those puppies are glued on tight! I can totally see him banging the frogs head into the wall in order to get them off.3.) Aquadoodle Travel 'N Doodle
Julian has decided that he loves to draw!! I figured this was an easy, portable and relatively mess free way for him to to draw all his lovely 'dogs' and 'balls' and 'balloons' while sparing my walls and floors. I do also intend on getting some tub crayons as well as some of Crayola's toddler crayons and a nice big coloring book. I just don't know if that will wait until Christmas or not - he's already doodled across the majority of our junk mail and we're running out of scrap paper!
4.) Step2 Little Helper's Grocery Cart
This has the potential to be one of those gifts that I get all excited about only to find out it's a big giant flop with the baby. Nonetheless, I've been wanting to get him one of these since before he could even walk. I can just imagine him putting all his little whatnots in there and pushing them around the house. I guess we'll see if it's a hit or not. As of right now the box it was shipped in is currently sitting in my living room and Julian has made a habit to go over to it many times a day and point out the 'baby' and the 'balls' (apples) that are in the cart. He even brought over one of his current toy apples and set it on top of the box, so I'm thinking it might just work out after all! He also made it his artistic palette today and scribbled all over the box, so whether it works out or not - it's ours to keep.
5.) IPlay "Peelable" Fruits and Veggies
He already has a few pieces of toy food that we got secondhand, but I loved the idea behind these. The rational part of my brain says that they will end up in a thousand scattered pieces stuffed into a thousand random locations in my home, but until that happens - I think they'll be a lot of fun. He's bound to go absolutely ape over the "Da-NANANAS" with which he is currently obsessed...and it's a lot less messy than seeing a real one smushed into my rug.
PS - I believe the toy knife will get filed away in the 'you can have that when you're sixteen' bucket. Something about a toddler with a fake butcher knife just unnerves me a tad.
6.) BUBBLE MACHINE - OMG
Need I say more? It's the answer to our prayers...at least until it dies a horrible, sudden death like all the reviewers on Amazon.com tell me it will. Do I care? No. If it works for just one day IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT.
7.) Melissa & Doug Animal Magnets.
He's pretty big into animals and their noises right now and I figured these would be a great distraction....once they're scattered all over my house and tucked into his toy trucks never to be found again. Just like all his other magnets. Haha!! But they're so cute!
8.) Megabloks Play 'N Go Table
He is finally showing an interest in putting things together and stacking things, so while I don't think he's fully ready for all this can do, I do think it'll be a great gift he can grow into. I had to go to the ends of the earth to find it (online even), which makes me think that it's nearing the end of it's circulation, but I really wanted him to have a great little starter table like this. I ended up finding it on Amazon.com (where 90% of this list was purchased) and I'm a little miffed to find out that it went on sale right after I bought it - of course. So much for planning ahead!
Not Pictured:
Playhouse Disney "Music Date" CD
Julian adores Playhouse Disney. He loves Special Agent Oso and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and even just the little shorts that come on between shows. We're hoping this CD of familiar songs from his favorite shows will help keep him happy in the car. Ever since daylight savings time, it seems like the majority of our outings are in the dark, and he is not very fond of car rides in the dark. I think it's the combination of rear facing and pitch blackness...he doesn't even have the ability to look at a book or out the window while we're driving, and thanks to living where we do, going anywhere means at least 20-30 minutes in the car at a time. Hoping this CD makes those trips a little funner :) At the very least, we'll use it for dance time here at home! This kid LOVES to dance.
Various Other Goodies TBD (to be determined)...
because there's still what...17 days left until Christmas? Who knows what I might find before then! I do still have a gift card or two saved from his birthday, so if we do find anything - we're covered. I would also like to add (because I know that everyone's budgets are different, and what may seem totally reasonable to me could seem totally outlandish to the next guy), Eddie and I have decided to focus on Julian this Christmas. I got a great deal on a VERY needed external hardrive on black Friday as well as another awesome deal on the Flip Video Recorder that I've wanted for about 6 months (as we lacked no actual video recording device to speak of), so that's more than I could ask for. We will still get each other a few small things, but have set a very modest limit. In all honestly, there's not a lot that I personallly need right now (aside from Pentax's new 35mm prime lens, but I digress)...and I'm more than willing sacrifice in order to see my son's face light up for even just a minute.
If you made it this far - hope your shopping is going well and that you are enjoying the season!! We put our little tree up last weekend and I took LOTS of (blurry) pictures...some of which I might actually get put on my computer and transferred to this blog in the near future.
Until then!
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