Please, Play With Me...Like This!

I've been playing with a lot of toys over the last year in a half. My Mama and Dada and Ba-Ba and Gamma and aunt-ees like to give me toys that I really, really like. But, sometimes I like to play with things that you might not understand.

Just in case you come over and play with me some day, here is a little list of some of my favorite things to do:

• I like to look at Mama's high school photo album. It's filled with pictures of people I don't know, but MAMA is in it!
• I like to take a pen (with the cap on or off) and pretend that I'm drawing. Usually this means I ask for paper or try to take your magazine that you are trying to read to use the pen on.
• I like to go to the computer chair, scream at Mama for Elmo and then sit on her (or your) lap while Elmo sings on the computer. (Mama note: Why aren't there more Elmo songs on iTunes?)
• I like to AH-BU things. I like to open and close almost everything. I can't really say "OOOH-PEN" yet, so I say AH-BU.
• BYE-BYE! Well, obviously I say this when I want to leave, but sometimes I say it when I am all done with whatever we are doing. I like to say this when Zoe the puppet comes out. She doesn't have to stay long.
• I like it when you count to 10 by opening one finger on each hand at a time. My FAVORITE is when you count to TWO. I like to grab your fingers and then pull them to my neck in a V like a necklace.
• I like to throw a ball by running at you with it...and then handing it to you.

I hope you come over to Lyla-sit sometime soon. Then you will know all of the things I like to do!

No No Toys

Sometimes I like to play with things that maybe I shouldn't play with. Things that are a NO-NO. Mama sometimes catches me playing with these things...like...

Mama's nice necklace (NA-NA)...

Mama's purse...

My food...

Dada's cords...

Sometimes I also like to run away from Mama when we are trying to leave the house. I think it is a fun game...but sometimes she does not!

Overall, I give playing with non-toys and running from Mama 5 out of 5 binkys. Who needs Elmo when you can have all this fun?

My Little Seat

Today I am playing with my Fisher Price Booster Seat. Mama got me this chair so I could sit at the table when we visit my friends. We haven't visited any friends in awhile, so Mama put this chair in my playroom.

I like to turn around, back into the seat, and then drag the tray over to sit on my legs. Then I like to take the tray off and play with the little straps that go together and make a CLICK sound. Sometimes I can't get them open (AH-BOO) and need to ask Mama for help.

I give this chair 3 out of 5 binkys. It is the perfect size for me to sit in, and I feel like SUCH a big girl in it, but I think the chair is to keep big girls like me from falling out of the chair which makes it hard to get out grab a toy, turn around, sit, put the tray on, play with the toy, throw the toy, wiggle out of the chair, get up, and get another toy. Let me know if you want me to come over one day and bring my chair with...then you can sit in it and show me how to get out!

My Chair

My Grama Jackie gave me a big girl chair for Christmas. It came in a BIG box. I liked it right away.

Sometimes I like to read in my chair.

Sometimes I put pretty things on in the chair.

Sometimes I use the chair to help me look at the world around me.

Sometimes I use my chair to reach other things....

....things that maybe I shouldn't have.

And sometimes I like to eat in my chair.

I give my chair 5 out of 5 binkys. It's perfect for all of the things I need to do.

Crayon Bag

Mama loves to color with me. She likes to make pretty pictures with all of the crayons. I usually like to grab a crayon and attack the paper (and sometimes the floor) by moving it all over the place and then running around wildly and throwing it on the floor.

Today, though, I learned how to put crayons in a BAG and then spill them on the floor. Over and over again.

First, you pick up a crayon.

Then, you put it in the bag.

Then, you spill it out of the bag.

Repeat.

Overall, I give crayons 2 out of 5 binkys. I like them, but I'm not very good at drawing with them yet, and I would rather chew on them and they don't taste that good.

I give the Crayon Bag 5 out of 5 binkys. This thing is

amaaaazing.

Necklace

Mama has a lot of pretty things. I like to play with her shoes, make-up, and most of all, her shiny things that go around her neck.

Here is a picture of Mama and me:

As you can see, I'm wearing a very bright and shiny pink string with beads. I love it. I like to wear it all of the time. I like to take it off and put it back on and take it off and put it back on and put it down and pick it up and put it on and pull it off and put it down and pick it up and put it on and take it off.

Overall, I give Mama's bright shiny pink string beads 5 out of 5 binkys. Be careful, though. Too many on at once means a big tangled mess!

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...

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. :)

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?

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.

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...

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.

Purse

I am still on vay-cay-shun with Mama and Dada. We are not sleeping at home but in a new place with one big bed. Mama and Dada brought my nap bed here so I have a place to sleep. Some of my stuff is in The Room, but most of it is not. Mama and Dada are staying in The Room with me and I like it.

Today Mama let me roll and climb all over The Room bed. I also found her purse today! Mama usually never lets me play with it, but once I tipped it over and everything fell out, she giggled so I assumed it was okay.

I found Mama's card with her picture on it and a lot of small hard little cards. I also found shiny tubes and paper, which I tried to eat. I also chewed on the purse which felt wonderful on my gums.

I give Mama's purse 3 out of 5 binkys. It was fun to chew on, fun to tip it over and watch the silver and gold circles fall out, and fun to crinkle all of the paper. I don't think Mama will let me play with it much, so I think I need a purse of my own. That way, I could put Dolly, my sunscreen, and my raspberry binky inside and tip them out whenever I wanted!

Suntan Lotion

Today I am playing with suntan lotion. I am on vacation with Mama and Dada. We are at a place where there is a lot of water. A LOT of water. Bathtubs and bathtubs of water. There is also a lot of sand.

Mama says that when I'm in the sun I have to wear suntan lotion. I don't like it much when she slathers it all over my face, but I love when she is done and she puts the tube next to me. The big cap on the lotion is PERFECT for me to chew on. The squishy tube makes it easy for my little hands to hold. The end of the tube has a flat part where I can chomp, chomp on - but I have to be careful. The corners can get a little pokey on my gums.

Overall, I give the suntan lotion 4 out of 5 binkys. Everything is wonderful to chew on, but suntan lotion gets a lot of sand on it. I ate a lot of sand today already. My binky got a lot of sand on it and my hands got full of sand. I didn't drink the water, but maybe I'll try tomorrow after I eat my suntan lotion sand!

Rug

Today I am playing with Rug. Rug is in my room on the floor. Mama likes to lay me down on Rug to put me in my jammies. She often says, Lyla! Stop squirming so much! I don't know what that means. All I know is that I don't really like the part where she shoves my enormous baby arms into the tiny baby onesie sleeves. I wonder why I need clothes on at all.

I don't know if you heard, but I learned how to crawl over the weekend. It was a pretty big deal. Mama picked me up and ran with me all over the house to celebrate. I liked that. So, now when Mama puts me on Rug before bed, I flip over on to my stomach and then crawl all around the floor. Today, Mama put a surprise under it! It was really hard to figure out how to get to it. I would lift Rug up with one hand and before I could reach for the surprise, Rug would fall back down. It was a pretty fun game and I finally figured out how to get the surprise. I tossed Rug up with all of my might and it didn't come down again! The surprise was mine. It was a book. And then I was bored.

I give Rug 3 out of 5 binkys. It is easy to lie down on and crawl around on, but very frustrating as a surprise hider.

Toothbrush

Today I am playing with the Baby Banana Brush. It's not really a banana. Mama once let me eat a little banana but I didn't like it very much. I heard Dada and Mama talking about getting another banana for me, but so far, I've only been given this banana (but I don't think it's a REAL banana).

Mama uses the banana to brush my gums for me at night. I usually grab the banana and do it myself. I am a big girl. It is SO easy to hold for my little hands. I like to take the soft tickly part and chew all over it. Mama usually

smiles when I do this, so I'm assuming I must be brushing the right way!

I give the banana brush 5 out of 5 binkys. It's the perfect size for me, my hands, and my gums.

The only thing I don't understand is why Mama keeps calling my banana a tooth brush. What's a tooth?

Basket

Today I'm playing with all of my toys. Mama likes to put all of my toys away every night. I like to take them all out. I typically use my pudgy hand to grab a toy, look at it, gum it, and then throw it down and search for my next toy.

My purple basket makes this

SOOOO easy.

I sit next to the basket and grab the sides and PULL it towards me. I then lean over as far as I can to grab all of the toys out. Sometimes my big belly gets in the way, but then I just topple over inside of the basket to get the toys. Sometimes Mama lets me stand next to the basket while she hangs on to me, so I can dive for toys.

Sometimes Mama puts ME in the basket. Silly Mama.

I give this

basket 3 out of 5 binkys. I think the basket is probably more for Mama, but the wheels on the bottom make it easy to pull towards me, it's a fun purple and pink color, and it holds all of my toys.

Now if I could just find the binky basket...