Tot Tip: Too Many Toys

If your house is anything like mine, then you have tons of toys.  Often as parents, we enjoy getting our child new toys almost as much as he or she enjoys receiving new toys.  Unfortunately the newness quickly wears off and the child moves on to something new, leaving piles of unused toys in his wake.

There is a great deal of research and advice out there saying that fewer toys are actually better for your child's development.  I'm not going to get into that here, but there are some easy things that you can do to  both bring life back to the old toys and eliminate the over-stimulation brought on by too many toys.

1.  Distribute your toys.  Don't put all of your toys in one place.  Little Bear has 3 play stations around the house.  One is in his bedroom, one is in the great room and one is downstairs (we have an open floor plan so this really encompasses the living room, dining room and kitchen).

2.  Hide some toys.  Don't put out every single toy that your child owns.  Put some of the toys away for awhile.  Later bring those toys out and put some others away.  This will give your child an opportunity to rediscover his toys.

3.  Rotate toys between your multiple play stations.  Every few months, I will move Little Bear's toys around.  Often a new setting will allow your child to come up with new uses for old toys.

After I did some toy shuffling, Little Bear rediscovered this simple tractor.  He spent the entire day driving it around and making sounds.

4.  Pay attention to the types of toys that your child enjoys.  Not that you don't ever want to expose them to new things, but if your child isn't interested in stuffed animals, what are you going to do with a room full of teddy bears?

5.  Shop for toys carefully.  Don't always buy the toy with all of the bells and whistles that can do everything.  Instead search for toys that will allow your child to do a lot with them.  Dolls with minimal facial expressions encourage children to create their own emotions for the doll.  Wooden cars encourage children to create their own sound effects.

6.  If a toy breaks, don't always go buy a new one.  Teach your child to be responsible and care for their toys.

7.  Rather than buying new toys, give your child safe household items to play with.  This allows them to both use their creativity and model your behaviors (one of their favorite pastimes anyway).  Little Bear has his own cabinets in the kitchen that are unlocked and filled with things that I use on a daily basis but are child safe (mixing bowls, measuring cups, tupperware, etc.).  Often if I am in the kitchen he would rather play with those than his other toys.

8.  Play with your child!  You are the best toy that your toddler could possibly have, so instead of spending the time and money to buy another toy just have some good old fashioned fun!

Tot Tip: Keep warm with a cape!

When Little Bear was tiny I didn't have to worry about putting a coat on him.  If it was cold, I would simply throw a blanket over his car seat and carry the whole seat with me.  Now that we have transitioned him into his convertible seat, this is not possible (really even if that seat was designed to be removable, there is no way that I could lug that thing plus Little Bear around!).

The new car seat poses several issues when it comes to cold weather.  1.  Little Bear is a furnace!  He sweats in his car seat without wearing a coat.  If I put a coat on him, he would be miserable.  2.  Safety.  Putting a bulky coat underneath the car seat straps compromises the ability of the straps to properly fit your child snugly.

So what to do?  For awhile I tried putting his coat on and off each time we got in or out of the car.  What a hassle!  Then I tried using a poncho (that came up like a blanket over the seat), but I couldn't leave it on in the car seat because Little Bear was too hot.  Finally I figured it out!  A cape with a hood.

Okay, I'm pretty sure that I have better pics somewhere, but Little Bear is waking up now!  :o)

Little Bear already had a monkey blanket with a hood and it made the perfect cape.  I simply keep it in the car and when I take Little Bear out of his seat, I put the hood on.  The blanket naturally falls around him like a cape and I just pull it closed at the neck.  It's easy on, easy off.  Little Bear is cool, comfortable and safe in his car seat without a coat but quickly and easily covered up to stay warm and dry when we venture out.  Plus its easy to wash and stash (in the car, in the cart, where ever).  And should the need arise, you have an extra blanket with you.  (I discovered that it was super easy to put the cape on and then lay Little Bear on the changing table in public restrooms for diaper changes!)

I think for next year I am going to sew some velcro at the neck, just to make things even easier!

Tot Tip - Table Covers

Right around his first birthday Little Bear decided that he did not like his high chair and would throw fits every time we tried to put him in it.  We ended up switching back to the space saver high chair which worked for awhile but then he did not want to sit in that either.  Ultimately we discovered that Little Bear wanted to sit at the table with us.  So he now uses his space saver high chair as a booster seat and sits right at the table.

While this ended meal time tantrums it was bad news for my table.  I could no longer use a table cloth because it was getting covered in food and without the table cloth the wood was starting to wear at Little Bear's end of the table.  Plus clean up was a general mess every day.

I finally figured out a great solution!

Other than a little shine, no one will notice your vinyl table cover.

I purchased several yards of clear 20 gauge vinyl and covered my table. Now my table is protected and clean up is as easy as wiping the table!  I was even able to put a tablecloth back on underneath the vinyl.  This works great not only for eating but also for those messy crafts and crayons that you don't want on the table.  And it still allows you to attach suction cups for toys, bowls, etc.

Spilled yogurt and strawberries?  No problem.  Just wipe it up!

So if you have a messy toddler, I highly recommend covering your table in clear vinyl.  Other than a little shine, you wouldn't even notice it and you will truly appreciate the new ease of cleaning! :o)