John and I are all about making sure Jacob has what he needs to get the most out of each stage of development.  However, we are not all about spending lots of money on toys that he—and even future siblings—will only use for a few months.

 

Thanks to grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends, we have more toys than we can keep in a single room.  Stuffed animals, some books, and the oodles of jingly-jangly, rattly toys are divided into two boxes—one in the living room and one in the dining room/office.  For the record, these rooms are not at all far apart.  Not even by Jacob’s standards.

 

Anyway, we do have all these little toys, but I’ve found that, especially when I need some time to do something without having the little man climbing on me (cook, write, edit) having one bigger focal point of toydom is beyond helpful.  First it was the activity gym:

 

The elephant seemed to have some words for Jacob when they first met, but we swiveled the little man over to the lion and everyone’s been friends since.

 

When the gym started to lose its appeal, we went for an exersaucer.  A friend passed on a link to a used one shortly after Jacob had a field day in her daughter’s, and before we could blink an eye, I was carrying this thing home.

 

 

When he turned one, he graduated to a toy that encourages him to stand up—which was pretty much his favorite thing in the world at the time anyway.  Again we went online to find something used, and very quickly found this.

 

It didn’t come with kitchen tools and gadgets, but a trip to the toy store allowed us a quick and easy supplement.

 

None of this is earth-shattering, I know.  Of course we got toys for older kids as our child got older.  The weird thing is how much each of these things cost.

 

Activity gym: $30.

Exersacuer: $30.

Kitchen: $10. . . but then we bought extra pots, pans, etc. for $17 + tax. So at the end of the day: $30.

 

The parenting moral of the day is that whatever budget you set for your kids’ toys, with the help of the internet, parent friends, and a well-timed trip to Toys ‘R’ Us, it’s possible to stick to it.

 

Now I wonder how long we can keep this up. If only we could expect college to cost just $30.