Early Christmas
Ailish with Santa Grammy & Santa PopPop
As soon as November 1st arrives, it takes serious effort to restrain myself from listening to Christmas music. That is until “The Kost” 103.5 starts playing the holiday tunes (which starts the second week of November) only then do I allow myself to indulge in all the Holiday glory that is soon to be upon us.
I’ve been playing Christmas music for four weeks now. Please judge me gently. Now that the delicious-food-holiday has passed, The Huz and I are putting the fall garb away and decking the halls. We had a lovely time with my mom and step-dad over Thanksgiving and since we won’t be seeing them at Christmas, we did our Christmas together early... and being it’s The Little Monkey’s first Christmas, the Grandparents “Spoil Meter” was running in the red.
But they gave her some pretty rad gifts!
In case you need any gift ideas for your wee-one during this holiday season, I thought I’d give some reviews of the gifts Ailish has loved.
Melissa & Doug - Turtle Ball Pit
While this is a scootch on the pricier side ($80), I think it's totally worth the bucks. Ailish loves smashing around in the Turtle Pit. She mainly swings her arms around haphazardly, giggling, as she grabs at the balls but they were the perfect size for her little death grip. They are a soft plastic but they pop back out when she squeezes too hard.
Mama Bear loves this because of the zipper Turtle Shell. All the balls have a place to go, other than under the couch when she’s done playing with them (ya know, after 3 minutes of fun).
Side Note: I just become an Affiliate for Melissa & Doug toys so if you're interested in shopping with a DISCOUNT and/or getting this awesome Turtle Pit use my links (below)! I get a small commission. Thx! xo
Starting TODAY, Take 15% Off Orders of $25 or More in the Melissa & Doug Holiday Shop. Use Code: WONDER17. Offer runs from now through 12/21 at 11:59pm EST. Receive Free Shipping as well if you use Code FREESHIP17. Offers runs from now through 12/15 at 11:59pm EST.
Rock & Ride Rocking Horse
This was the first gift Ailish (watched me) open (for her). She had a slight look of confusion yet curiosity as the horse came galloping out of the gift bag, but once she sat on its back and gripped the handle, shrieks of joy escaped as we slowly rocked her back and forth. She is quite the thrill-seeker and this horse was checking all the boxes.
She is still a little small for it but will grow into it in no time.
VTech Move and Crawl Baby Ball
This ball of joy has flashing lights, sings songs and rolls around on its own! Ailish thinks it’s the bee's knees. Her eyes explode with curiosity as she grabs it, pushing the different buttons, all while it sings “Row, Row, Row your boat”
And I’m not ashamed to let Ailish play with it. Sometimes I feel like there’s this weird quiet mystery pressure to not let kids play with technology-based toys. I was even pushing for mostly wooden “nothing too overstimulating” toys for her, but to hell with that! This ball is cool.
Hohner 4 Piece Baby Band
I know, I know. Why would I willingly bring loud noise into the house…on purpose. That headache will be all my fault. But I figured since The Little Monkey is young and easily distracted that maraca and jingle bell won’t ring for long. Plus after seeing her tiny toothy grin shine with delight when the musical instruments were dumped on the floor at the sensory classes we’ve attended, I HAD to put these on her list to Santa Grammy.
*Not Pictured is the Mini Rainbow Shaker... it's here somewhere.
Duplos
At 10-months old she is really getting into these now. The Huz is a HUGE Lego fan so we’ve had the Duplos since Ailish was about 4-months old. But now, it’s a totally different ball game. She pries the Lego shaped lid open with her bare hands like she's the Incredible Hulk then turns the square bucket upside down so all those chunky little pieces can come crashing out. She LOVES dumping them out! Her spastic little arms fling the pieces around in pure bliss. Happy she has made a mess she crawls away without a glance back.
Stacking Star Cups
An oldie but always a goodie. It’s the first toy she goes to every morning. She can’t help but brag about her pincher skills, as she crawls to rip these star-shaped cups apart to kick off her A.M. routine. She also loves to put Mama Bear to work stacking them up so she can King Kong them to the ground. The curve of the star makes it super easy for her to grab and pull apart. Now, we just need to work on her stacking skills now.
