Last week my husband began noticing that Lachlan was realising that the buttons on his toys have a purpose. He has one book that his grandmother gave him with an interactive button. If you press the green button, the book will sing a short song, play a melody and count to ten. Lachlan generally wakes up an hour before me and my husband. My husband will get him out of his cot and put him in our bed for the last hour, hoping that we can get a few extra moments of shut eye: this has always been the case, as Lachlan will lay between us while exploring a cloth book. A few days ago I gave him the book with the button, which was a mistake in terms of achieving extra sleep. He was very eager to prove to us that he in fact knew where to find this little button and continued to press it over and over again. He did this for a good fifteen minutes. He was very proud of himself and I didn't want to burst his bubble by taking away the book. He's been teething again and more irritable. It was too early to deal with an emotional blowout. By that time, my husband and I were wide awake anyway. How could we sleep with the interactive voice of the book, which was so gosh, darn chipper? I wanted to tell the female voice exactly where she could shove her numbers and nursery rhymes. Fortunately for her the feeling quickly subsided as I watched my son smiling and giggling. Plus, I didn't want his first word to be a four letter one.
It looks like we have now entered the world of very annoying interactive toys. Thank goodness we don't have many of them and most were gifts. Part of me thinks this is karma nipping me in the butt. When one of my friend's had his first child, I bought his daughter a very loud, interactive bongo drum. He cursed me and that drum for a very long time. When he had a son, and it was his first birthday, I bought him an interactive tee-ball set. A loud, husky voice would yell, "Home run!" and then sing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' It was like having Harry Carey in your living room. I though it was great. My friend-- not so much. The best part was when it would chant, "Hey, batter, batter! Hey, batter, batter! SWIIIIIING!" I have a feeling that this noisy toy replica, met a real Louisville Slugger by the end of the first week, that sent it to the annoying toy graveyard.....R.I.P.
So far, so good with us, though. I am handling the noisy book, the loud piano and even the maracas that sing in both English and Spanish. I've even grown to love Leap Frog Scout (he really is cute and is personalised according to Lachlan's interests). Those are the only interactives that have joined our family thus far, and I am okay with that. Lachlan prefers the real deals anyway. He loves his homemade shakers, wooden maracas, Indian bells and baby castanet. They give mom and dad less of a headache also which is a BIG bonus! Also, I wouldn't be using my degree if I didn't state that these toys are much better for your child developmentally anyway. The young mind has to work in a more complex way when it actually has to THINK about how a sound was made and WORK to try to replicate it in the same way, versus instant gratification that a simple button brings. I mean, where is the fun in that and after awhile, it just becomes, well...annoying!
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