Barn

Today I am playing with my Fisher Price Little People Animal Sounds Barn. Grandma Jackie gave this to me for Christmas and I love it. I knew what to do with it as soon as I opened it. Here are all the things I like to do:

• Open and close all of the doors. Over and over again.
• Put all of the ani-ma-mals in the SILO. I think that's the big tall thing. Anyway, I like to throw them in there and then open the door and let them all out.
• Put the farmer in the barn and shut the door. Sometimes I throw him (her?) inside the barn but then he (she?) falls out the other side. Uh oh.
• Grab the sheep and say BAH.
• Take the cow and walk around the house with him. Leave him in the dog cage (where all of my other special toys live).

I give this barn 4 out of 5 binkys. The only thing that doesn't make a lot of sense is the sound. It's not very good. The animals sound a bit sad. Which is okay. I like to make all of the ani-ma-mal noises myself anyway. Really, every little 1 year old should have a big-kid barn like this!

Poppin' Pals

Today I am playing with Playskool's Busy Poppin' Pals. My Auntie Lori gave me this toy for my birthday. She's a cool auntie. She knows JUST what I like to play with.

This toy is pretty simple. Mama twists, pushes, and turns little thingamabobs on the toy and then ani-ma-mals pop up! I then SLAM them down again and turn and look at Mama and say PEEZE so she will pop them back up again. I LOVE it when the panda pops up. Mama pushes a little yellow button that makes a SQUEEK SQUEEK noise...and then...UP pops panda.

I don't know how to make the ani-ma-mals pop up yet on my OWN. I keep trying to hit that yellow button but no SQUEEK and no panda. I'm fine with Mama doing it for me, but I think she doesn't want to do it anymore. She's trying to be nice, but let's just say, I think SHE thinks I should be able to do it on my own. Harmph. Silly Mama.

I give the poppin' pals 4 out of 5 binkys. The only thing that could make it better would be for the ani-ma-mals to pop up all on their own and stop being stuck inside for so long.

***Update: I can now POP up the panda! I'm SOOOO big!

Ball Popper

Today I am playing with the Playskool Busy Ball Popper, thanks to my good friend Anja who got it for me for my birthday. I'm not sure if you heard, but I turned 1 last month. I'm a pretty big deal.

I just learned how to say BALL. This toy has 5 BALLs and they FLY up in the air and then pop back into the toy. I like to try and stop them from going back down the hole. I take one and put a ball in each hand then run around the house shouting BAAAAUUUUULLL. Mama laughs at me and then asks me to put it back in.

Put it back?

My ball?

Both of them?

Hmmmm...will they come back out?

Promise?

Oh, okey dokey then.

The ball popper also has REALLY good music. The songs only play for about a minute - just enough time to be fun but not annoy Mama.

I give this busy ball popper 5 out of 5 binkys. The only thing I can't quite do it is turn it on. I know the big red button turns it on, but only Mama or Dada is strong enough to do that.

Anja, you can come over any time you want to and play with it...ee-special-ee if you can turn it on.

Puppy

Today I am playing with my singing puppy, also known as the Laugh and Learn Puppy. I have to let you in on a little secret. I have not liked this puppy for a very long time. He has been with me for many months now, but I often stepped over him in search of better toys.

But today? We got along very well in my new tent. The puppy sings songs! I like to clap my hands when he starts to sing. Sometimes his little heart lights up and turns off and lights up and turns off. I wish more of him would light up. Sometimes he also starts singing one song and then when I touch him he starts singing another song. He is a very sensitive little puppy.

Overall, I give singing puppy 3 out of 5 binkys. I like the songs he sings (Pat A Cake, Happy Clap Clap, Piggy to Market, and HeadShoulderKneesAndToes) and I like his voice. Mama sometimes turns him off when he makes too much noise. I don't think she likes it when he talks to me when I don't try and talk to him. He is a very nosey little puppy.

Baby Says Book

Today I am playing with the book, What Does Baby Say?

This book has a lot of babies in it. They are eating and drinking and playing with doggies (get!) It also has little pages that you can flap open and SEE what the baby is doing. Pretty cool. I like to flip open the pages myself, but sometimes Mama helps.

I like it when big people read the book to me. I like to bring the book over to them, put it on their legs, and then cry and pat their arms until they pick me up and read it with me in their lap.

Again.

And again.

I give this book 5+ out of 5 binkys. (It gets a bonus half binky when I get to read it with Gram-pa Tom).

Tylenol

Today I am playing with baby medicine. Mama calls it Ty-Len-All. I call it my very special, teeny tiny bottle WITH a rubber top shaped like my bottle top.

I like to chomp on the rubber part and make it go squeak-a squeak-a on my gums. The little bottle is perfect for me to hold and transfer from hand to hand. Sometimes I even try and tip the goo out that lives inside. It never comes out. Bad goo.

Sometimes I don't feel very good and Mama takes my Ty-Len-All bottle and opens it up! I have no idea how she does that. She is like magic. But then she makes me eat whatever is inside, and I don't like that.

I give the Ty-Len-All bottle 4 out of 5 binkys. The rubber top is dee-lite-full on my gums (and my half-tooth!) and the little bottle fits in my hands perfectly. Now if the goo inside could just taste good...

Puzzle

Today I am playing with Melissa and Doug's Barnyard Animals Puzzle. This puzzle is really meant for babies older than me. That makes me a pretty big girl.

Each ani-ma-mal piece has a big knob in the middle of it. I like to grab a knob, one in each hand, and then CLAP CLAP them together. Sometimes I like to chew on the knobs as well. Mama likes to put the ani-ma-mals back in their homes. She makes a big deal of trying to cram the knob-sheep where the knob-horsey lives and saying "oh, that doesn't work." Maybe when I get to be a big 1 year old girl next month, I will like to try and put the ani-ma-mals back in their places, but for now, it just doesn't make any sense.

I give this puzzle 2 out of 5 binkys. The wood makes a nice loud CLAP sound, the knobs are nice and big for my small hands to grab, but right now, the whole "puzzle" thing doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I may need to review this one again in a few months when I start to, as Mama says, match ani-ma-mals together. This sounds exciting. Wish me luck!

Music Machine

Today I am playing with the music machine...also known as the "No-Lyla-Don't-Touch CD Player." My mama plays my night night music from the music machine so I can fall asleep. It has a lot of buttons. I like to crawl to it, carefully inspect all of the buttons, and then verrrrry carefully poke one of them. Most of the time I lose interest pretty quickly, and then I try and stand up and bonk my head on the table above.

I do that a lot.

I give the music machine 3 out of 5 binkys. It doesn't do much, but I DO play with it every night. Sometimes I can even get the top of it to FLY open and then I try to grab the shiny circle thing on top. That's when Mama usually shakes her head at me and tries to give me the Vicks Vay-Po Rub to play with. That is fine by me. :)

Coffee Cup

Today I am playing with Mama's Coffee Cup. Each morning before school Mama wakes me up, sings me songs, changes my diaper, dresses me (which I hate), feeds me my bottle, and then takes me down to the big table where I sit in my special chair and eat amazing round things while Mama eats yo-gurt with crunchy things.

And THEN....

Mama fills her coffee cup, grabs me from the big chair, shoves me in my jacket (which I hate) and we go into the big car. Wait, what am I talking about? Oh, right - Mama's coffee cup.

I just learned how to hold my own bottle...so naturally I want to hold other things up and try to drink from them. Mama doesn't let me try and drink from her coffee cup. Hmm. Not sure why. She runs at me really fast saying "eeee" and then grabs the cup from me.

I give Mama's Coffee Cup 2 out of 5 binkys. Seeing as how Mama doesn't let me drink from it much, it's not that much fun, but I DO have a good time trying to grab it back. :)

So Big

Today I am playing with my So Big! Elmo book. It is not really MY book as Mama said her friend Kelly loaned it to me. Really? What is this loaning all about? This book is the best book I've ever read. Won't I want to read it FOREVER?

What was I saying?

Oh, yes. Elmo. He is SO big. Actually, Elmo can do so many things in this book that I can't do yet. He is sort of my hero. I learned how to clasp my hands together and throw them over my head into a cheerio position a couple of months ago. Mama then says SO BIG! Just like Elmo. At the end of the book, it asks, how big is baby Elmo? THEN. You flip the page over and a HUUUUUGE Elmo pops out of the book. It's amazing. Elmo is really SO big!

I give this book 5 out of 5 binkys. The pictures are bold, colorful, simple, and happy, happy, happy. Elmo is doing something fun, yet quite advanced, in each of the pictures and Mama has a fun time reading me the story. Again. And again. Mama is also SO big.

Mini Bottle

Today I am playing in Mama's diaper bag. Hmmm...let's see what we can find.

Oh, what's this? This looks like a bott-tull. My favorite kind of toy.

Hmmm...this is much smaller than a normal bott-tull.

What is this, Mama?

Baby powder? To powder babies? Whatever. It is the perfect size for me. I'm going to keep it forever!

I give this teeny tiny baby-sized bott-tull 5 out of 5 binkys. It's like it was made for my little hands to hold. It was so easy to carry with me. I took it every where I went all morning. Finally, Mama had to give me my real milk bott-tull, so I put this one down. Huh. I wonder where that went?

Xylophone

Today I am playing with the Little Tikes Tap A Tune Xylophone. My Grandma Jackie gave this to me when she visited. I love the little stick. I like to pull and pull and pull and pull the stick to try to get it off the big red thing with all of the fun buttons and colors. It won't come off though. So, sometimes I just sit next to it and gum the yellow stick. Ah, that feels good.

Mama sometimes makes silly noises with the big red part. I'm not sure how she does it, but I'm sure one day I will want to know.

For now? I give the yellow stick 3 out of 5 binkys. I would give it more if it wasn't binky clipped to the big red thing. As for the rest of the toy? We'll have to see.

Drums

Today I am playing with the Fisher-Price Go-Baby-Go Crawl-Along Drums. My Auntie Jen gave this to me when I was learning how to crawl. Somehow Mama can turn the drums into a spinning, rolling toy! I'm not always sure I know what to do when the toy looks like drums. I just learned how to clap my hands, so I like to do that when the drums play by themselves.

When the toy rolls, that's when I have the most fun. Mama will push it across the floor and then I can chase after it...like the puppies do with their toys.

I wish the drums played more songs. The same "dinga dinga dinga doo" over and over again can get a little boring. I like so many things at once that I need something that can hold my attention just a bit longer! But, the music is loud enough to get me to look (and then crawl) to it many times a day.

Overall, I give this toy 3 out of 5 binkys. I'm not sure when I will learn how to bang a drum, but until then, this toy is pretty fun when Mama plays with it and me at the same time. Thanks, Auntie Jen!

Mirror

Today I am playing with the Sassy Me in the Mirror. Pretty much, I love looking at myself every chance I get. I'm a pretty cute baby after all. I love looking at myself in the mirror at day care, in the mirror in Mama's room, in the mirror in the hallway, and even at my reflection in the fireplace glass doors.

So, when Mama put a mirror in my toy basket that you can take WITH you, let's just say, I got pretty excited.

Mama likes to put the mirror on the fireplace so I can stand AND look at myself. Basically, this mirror is dee-bomb.

I give this sassy mirror 4 out of 5 binkys. The only thing I would change is to make it a little heavier so I can't swat it off the table as easy!

Activity Table

Today I am playing with the Fisher Price Fun with Friends Laugh and Learn Table. Who are these "friends?" No one is getting near this table. All four corners are just for me. It should be called My Table.

I play with My Table every day. It plays music, lights up, sings to me, and even says words in Ing-lesh and Span-esh. When I was 6 months old I played with it while sitting down. My favorite was the laptop. Mama would open it for me (OPEN! ABRIRRRRR!) and then I would use my fist to WHAP the top shut. (CLOSE! CERRARRRRR!) My second favorite was the book (Run, little dog! Jump, little frog!) I loved to open and shut, open and shut, open and shut the page in the book. Let's just say that Mama would have liked a couple more pages for some var-ri-eh-tee. I also liked to fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip the little ball twirly thing with my hands. SO much fun.

A little while ago Mama put the legs on the toy so I could play with it standing up like a big girl. I still love the laptop and book, but now I also play with the keyboard. It has a lot of keys with different colors on them. (RED! RHOJOOO!) Sometimes when I crawl away from My Table, it calls me back by saying "Don't you want to have some fun?" So, then of course, I crawl back to it and DO have some fun.

I give this toy 5 out of 5 BIG binkys! While I can't play with the phone very well yet (my pudgy fingers can't quite push buttons well) I know I will grow up and know how to have fun with it. Either that, or I will skip right to playing with Mama's cell phone!

Binky Holder

Today I am playing with my binky holder. Now, this really isn't a toy, but since my FAVORITE thing of all time is attached to it, I really have to write about it.

Mama got this for me from the Fussy Couture shop on Etsy. [Mama's editorial note: I have always been so pleased with this shop - they ship quickly and their binky holders are high quality!] Aaaanyway, one end goes to my binky. The other end goes to my clothes. This makes sure that when I spit my binky out of my mouth (the 1 or 2 times I might do that) that the binky doesn't go bouncing along the floor, collecting puppy fur or beach sand.

What I like best about this holder is that my binky never falls off. What I don't like about this holder is that it is hard to get off my clothes. Mama says she likes that. But, why make it so hard to

chew on the other end? I love the other end. It's metal, and cold and smooth. Just like the ree-moat controls.

I give this binky holder 4 out of 5 binkys. It keeps my favorite thing of all time safe from the puppies but it's sometimes frustrating to try and pull off.

Wrist Rattle

Today I am playing with Infantino's Wrist Rattles. These rattles have little ani-ma-mal heads stuck on a big ribbon that goes vrrrrrrp when taken off. Mama says this is called vell-crow.

I think mamas are supposed to put these things on the wrists of babies so they can happily rattle the head by waving their hands up and down. I am not that baby. I don't want mama to put this on my wrist. I want her to vrrrrrp it off my wrist so I can chew on it.

I don't know if you know or not, but vell-crow feels REALLY good on the gums. I can chew, chomp, and drool all over the vell-crow and it stays just as fuzzy as the first time I did it.

Overall, I give these rattles 2 out of 5 binkys. For what they SHOULD do, they really are quite lame. But, given the fact that they have vell-crow on them, they are a pretty good toy to chew on. Too bad the head of the pig doesn't say OINK OINK when I chew on it; that would bump the rating up by at least 1 binky.

Plastic Fun

Today I am playing with my yellow plastic spinning thing. I have no idea what this is *really* called. My great uncle Jim gave it to me. Mama said he loaned it to me, but really? What is this "loaning" business all about?

This is one of my recent favorite toys. Not only is it perfect to hold on to, and to spin the little animals and sun, and to chew on the bright yellow plastic, it is also perfect to throw.

Overall, I gave this plastic spinning thing 5 out of 5 binkys. It is perfect.

Quack Quack Book

Today I am playing with one of my favorite books, the Begin Smart Quack! Quack! book. These books are for brainy babies, which, clearly, I am.

This book has really BIG pictures of ani-ma-mals. Mama points to the ani-ma-mal pictures and then sounds out the noises. Bee! What does a bee say? Bzzzzzzzzzz. Cow! What does a cow say? Moooooooo. Mama gets pretty excited doing the sounds.

Me? I like the BIG pages. Some of them have green foam between them making them EXTRA nummy to chew on.

Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. The pictures are bright and bold and there are new ani-ma-mals to learn, like the fish that says GLUB.

The only thing I don't like is the bird. My room upstairs has all sorts of birds. When Mama is putting my pajamas on and wants me to lay still instead of trying to jump off the changing table, she points to a green and pink bird on the wall and says, Lyla! What does a BIRD say? Bird! What does a BIRD say?

TWEEET TWEEET! TWEET! TWEET!

She then tickles me all over. This bird in this book is a big ugly plain bird. And he says CAW. CAW. CAW.

I think they could do better than that.

Cage

Today I am playing with a wire door. I don't know if you know, but Mama and Dada have two puppies that like to lick my cheeks, wag their tails into my hair, and try to eat my food.

I don't like all that very much, but I like where my puppies sleep. They have two little wire homes with doors! I like to crawl really fast into their room and open and close and open and close and open and close their doors. I even went into the cages once (shhhh...Mama doesn't know yet). [Mama's editorial note: Ack!] The puppies don't seem to mind that I play with their doors, but Mama minds when I try and suck on them. She scoots me over and says "eek blah blah blah."

I give these doors 3 out of 5 binkys. They make fun squeaky sounds when they open and they are really easy to move back and forth. Too bad I can't chew on them. Ah, well...back to the binky.

Door

Mama usually lets me know when it's bed time by taking me upstairs to my room, putting my pajamas on, feeding me, and then letting me crawl all around. Usually I play with many things in my room, but a very, very short time ago, I played with my first door. A door stops baby from going into the bathroom. A door keeps doggie in his wire home. A door swings open and swings shut. A door is not for little babies.

I am not such a little baby any more. I learned how to swing a door and open and shut. All. On. My. Own. I still like to play with other things (like boxes), but a good door will tire me any night.

Overall, I give Door 4 out of 5 binkys. Now if only the door handle was just a WEE bit closer to the ground so I could grab it...

Smiley Face

Today I am playing with one of my all-time favorite toys: The Sassy Smiley Face Rattle. Also known as, the Squeaky Nose Mirror.

This toy is a baby's dream. On one side is a HUGE smiley face. The eyes are googly and move all around when you shake it. The ears are actually the handles and have rubber on them so they are easy to hold and feels great on the gums. The BEST part of the smiley face is the huge, red, squeaky nose. When I'm playing with the toy, Mama will come over and SQUEAK-A, SQUEAK-A, SQUEAK-A the nose. I can't quite get the nose to squeak on my own, but every once in a while when I try to get the nose in my mouth, I sometimes squeak it.

On the other side is a mirror! And inside the mirror is a really pretty baby. Sometimes when I look at the baby in the mirror, I slowly move my head forward so I finally end up kissing the baby. Such a nice baby.

Overall, I give this toy 5 out of 5 binkys. Seriously. What could be improved? It's easy to hold, lovely to gum, has funny sounds, and a REALLY cute baby that I see in the mirror!

Now if I could just get Mama's nose to squeak...

Flash Cards

Today I am playing with the Baby Flip-A-Face Flash Cards. These flash cards have ani-ma-mals on them. Mama has been showing me these cards since I was just a few weeks old. She would usually show me just the black and white pictures, which I liked very much since I couldn't see in color, but now she shows them all to me.

Mama makes the ani-ma-mal noises when she shows them to me.

Goat - maaaaaaah

Bird - tweet, tweet tweet

Pig - hnk, hnk, hnk

Baby - goo goo gah gah. Yes, I guess babies are also included.

I like how BIG the cards are. I also like their faces. I can stare at their faces for a very long time. Tonight Mama let ME play with the cards on my own. She still made the ani-ma-mal noises from far away. I felt like a big girl. I also tried to eat the cards, but they were pretty tough.

I give these flash cards 5 out of 5 binkys...as long as you have a Mama that can make all of the ani-ma-mal noises like my Mama can.

Rubber Brush

Today I am playing with...well, I'm not sure. Mama gave me a very funny toy tonight at dinner. I had a little bit of a fever today which made me pretty tired and fussy, so Mama gave me this...thing...to play with to try and keep me happy. I'm not sure what it really was, but I definitely didn't like it. I tried to bite the funny orange hair on one end, and well, let's just say I won't be trying that again. It wasn't very easy to hang on to either. The other end wasn't much better, but at least it was more like my binky. It didn't play any music, light-up, make funny noises, or taste very good. I finally tossed it to the ground for the puppies.

I give this (Mama's editorial note: "rubber cooking brush") 1 out of 5 binkys. I usually love to play with anything that isn't in any way designed for a baby, but this was really, much too ree-dic-uluss.

Radio

Today I am playing with Baby Einstein's Take-Along-Tunes, also known as My Radio. Auntie Lori gave me My Radio. It plays a lot of songs. I like My Radio better than a lot of my other toys for many reasons.

1. It lights up when the songs play. The colors go boing boing boing all over in a circle along with the music.

2. There is a colorful catter-piller as the handle of the radio. I don't really know what a catter-piller is, but I do know that his ears are very fun to put in my mouth.

3. There is a big button to push to play the music. I still don't know how to push buttons very well by myself, but when I roll over on My Radio, it plays music!

4. The songs play longer than a lot of my other toys, except for Octo-puss. I'll tell you about Octo-puss some other day. My Radio plays songs longer than 5 seconds. This is nice as Mama doesn't have to come over all the time to turn it back on.

5. The songs that play are actually fun. There is no singing (like, let's mail some LETTERRRRRRS!) and I can listen to the songs over and over. Mama also likes the songs because sometimes she will hum along or make up new words. Like, "Baby, baby, baby, why won't you go to sleep? You are fussy and cranky, and need to sleep sleep sleep."

Overall I give My Radio 4 out of 5 binkys. It's easy to take with me, the songs are very baby-nice, and it's great to chew on. It would be nice to have a couple of different options to turn the songs on or to have all the songs play over and over again on their own. Baby Einstein, feel free to come over and play with me. I'll show you how to make your toys better!

Stacking Cups

Today I am playing with the Fisher Price Stack & Roll Cups. There are many, many different sizes and colors of cups. I don't know all the names of the colors yet, but they are so pretty. Mama helps me stack the cups into a VERY tall stack (almost as tall as me when I'm sitting down) and then I lunge at them and topple them over. Sometimes Mama puts a yellow rattle ball on the top of the cups. It makes a great RATTLE RATTLE noise when it falls over! We don't play with that much now though, as I think Mama lost it. [Mama editor's note: I didn't lose it, but I did roll it down the parking lot by accident today. Those tiny plastic things are hard to keep track of!]

Mama likes to take 2 cups and put them together to make a BALL! I like to roll them all over and crawl after them. I also like to stick my fingers through the bottoms of the cups and pick them up like I'm wearing a very big ring. Mama wears a ring and that is very pretty. I always try to take it off but I can't.

I'm 8 1/2 months old and I am learning how to clap things together. These make a very pleasing CLAP CLAP sound when I slam them together. I think I will keep doing that with more and more things.

Overall, I give the stacking cups 4 out of 5 binkys. They are pretty, loud, and can be stacked, rolled, or made into baby rings. I do need a big Mama helper to help me stack them up and roll them around sometimes. I think when I get bigger these will be even more fun; until then, I'm glad Mama plays with me.