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toy advice needed
What toys are appropriate for the first year? I'm going to a JBF sale next week and want to keep an eye out. I prefer to buy learning toys. Honestly, I prefer as few toys as possible, but Georgia is no longer entertained by just listening to me all day!
We have these things (some of which she's not using yet): activity mat, mobile, Exersaucer, Sophie, linky toys, Jacques peacock, Rainforest thing you can attach in the crib, music table, bouncy seat and nesting cups.
I think I need some smaller things she can play with when she's having blanket time on the floor or sitting in her Bumbo.
How old are babies when they start liking the wooden puzzles? What other toys did your kids like or would you try to buy?
It goes without saying that we buy as many books as possible though. 
Re: toy advice needed
I don't buy that many toys either.
Honestly, C's favorite toys right now are a big whisk, water bottles and a spoon. She's 9.5 months.
She does love her FP stacking rings and this http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Brilliant-Basics-Babys-Blocks/dp/B000LSZVKA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315498654&sr=8-1
i agree with these two.
my C also l still likes to play with this:
http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Explore-Grow-Tumble-Twirl/dp/B001WRSER6/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1315498750&sr=1-1
it was great starting when he first could sit up as it was something i could wedge between his legs and he could prob up against/hold onto while he figured out how to push it. He's 17 months and still loves to play with it.
The other much played with item the first year was a music/play table, we have this one but there are others that are good/better
http://www.amazon.com/Chicco-Music-N-Play-Table/dp/B00005BRFM/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1315498886&sr=1-3
We got this when C was 8ish months old. He wasnt pulling up yet so he'd sit in our lap and play with it. You could also take the top off and put it on the floor, so he liked that. Once he started pulling up, he LOVED pulling up on it and playing with all the toys and still plays with it now.
As for wodden puzzles, C is JUST starting to be interested in them. I got a few last year at a consignment sale but could have waited to this year.
Wood or other sensory blocks are awesome and will be entertaining for at least 2 years. Plain wood blocks have an even longer lifespan and still teach a lot more than you would think- spacial relationships, etc...
Stacking/nesting blocks. These also have an insanely long lifespan
If you can find a good, wooden pull toy that is a good investment. It will be more than a year before she finally pulls it in earnest, but she'll play with it a lot before she pulls it.
Actually, I have an item you might like: it's a wooden block set that has a small "wagon" as the storage, that it is to say the wooden box for the blocks has wheels.
http://www.apinkprincess.com/ABC-WOOD-BLOCKS-AND-WAGON-Alex-Toys-p-1050.html
I was going to price it at $15 for JBF but you can have it for $10 if you want. Email me.
I don't know what JBF is but I would ditto stacking rings and nesting toys. DD has this and it's her favorite toy - http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Einstein-Take-Along-Tunes/dp/B000YDDF6O
Sophie the Giraffe was also great when she was cutting her first front teeth but she's kind of over Sophie now.
Honestly we didn't do very many toys for the first year, but Evan still plays with the stacking rings, stacking cups, and a xylophone pull toy. His other pull toys have been packed away because they never get used.
Books, books, and more books. Any kind of sensory stimulation (textured balls, soft things) or things that showed cause and effect were a big hit. Oh, one thing Evan loved was his exercauser and I know other kids love jumpers. Evan loves music so we got a music themed one and he was in heaven.
He is a year and a half today and we are just staring wooden puzzles.
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This totally. It's all about exploring his environment. Anything that lights up was Noah's favorite. He loved things that wouldn't be considered a "toy". He loved wooden puzzles around 12 months and still loves them. anything that counts or does the alphabet - repetative movements like putting things in and out were perfect for Noah at Georgia's age.
Ditto wooden blocks. DD loves playing with them and she's two...but at age 1 she would've been entertained with them. They are pretty easily entertained with cups/bowls, wisks...muffin liners/muffin tins for a while and DD chose those things over toys most of the time. She loved her nesting blocks and books too
Helen didn't have that many toys at first - but now that she's cruising around on the floor, she LOVES her toys. She's pretty much obsessed with the Learning Puppy and her soft, crinkly books. (sorry, no links bc I'm at work and don't want to go on shopping sites). She also loves her lamaze moose. ditto to the recs for stacking/nesting blocks/rings.
I've heard good things about Plan Toys, and ordered a pully alligator that got great reviews, but then realized that it was 19mo+. But they have a lot of other great toys.
I think pull-toys are always kind of a disappointment. In my experience, by the time kids can walk well enough to move forwards and pull a toy along while looking backwards they're kind of over the simplicity of a pull-toy. Now push toys, whole different story, they can push a lot earlier than pull.
Everyone else had great suggestions, but a lot of it depends on the kid-- how early they are mobile and what they are interested in. Aside from all the already mentioned rattles, blocks, stacking/nesting toys and books, our best first year purchase was this train, he started walking with it around 9 months.
My go-to recommendation for 1 year olds is the Learning Puppy Red Dahlia mentioned. I even like to play with it. :-)
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Laugh-Learn-Learning-Puppy/dp/B000284ZNI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315508555&sr=8-1
Little Einstein drums and maracas, musical toys for 1 year olds, etc. were all big faves. M loves music so anything she could push buttons on and then sing along was something she loved.
Blocks are good for stacking and they last for years.
Riding toys are big for 1 year olds if you can stand it in the house. M had an inside scooting riding toy and a rocking elephant (as opposed to rocking horse).
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
I'm sorry - we call our Learning Puppy the "ADD dog" b/c you don't even have to touch the thing and it goes off constantly! It gets very annoying and is super loud. We had our electricty flicker one day and that damn dog kept talking "yellow foot!" while sitting in the toy box. We have turned it off and never looked back.
We much preferred Scout (or Violet for a girl). I feel like the songs didn't cut off like the Learning Puppy does, and it was much less obnoxious. And DS liked that it sang songs with his name (you program it in the computer and download into the toy).
that damn puppy is so sensitive. we hate it. cason loves his laugh n learn puppy but its so sensitive it always changes what its doing with the slightest brush of a hand or foot.
i've always wondered if Scout/Violet was better.
I preferred Scout, but at your DS's age, I probably wouldn't bother getting one. Since around age 2, DS hasn't really given Scout the time of day. He's much more into blocks and other constructive play rather than just stuffed animals.
The surprising thing about pull toys is they really are for older kids than you would think. A) they need to be able to walk and walk well. Truitt is 4.5 and pretty mature for his age from a play standpoint. He loves to get a good pull toy going. He didn't start to really pull them around until he was 3. Prior to that, though, he did play with them like they were a toy alligator or frog rather than a "pull" toy. Mathis is 2.5 and plays with them, mostly because he sees his brother pull them and it's all about competition wit these 2...
A likes anything with buttons. Like...keyboards and phones. Fortunately she hasn't called 911 or China. yet.
She also loves crinkly things. we have a fabric book with different textures, one of which is crinkly fabric. Loves that book. She also loves playing with her crinkly wipes package. Empty water bottles are a hit too.
Have you seen my monkey?
Tracey got the Plan Toys gator for christmas last year. At the time I thought she was a little old for it, but she still loves to pull it clicking and clacking at top speed around the house. "GATOR!!" AND she sleeps with it half the time.
She still plays with the bead maze I got her for her first christmas when she was 10 months old.
Yeah, thinking more for gifts and baby #2.
DD LOVES Violet and I do too! She's just 1 though...
Well maybe there's hope yet. We have the Melissa and Doug pull frog and Cooper has been capable of pulling it (walking forward and looking back) for a good 6 months now but he pulls it a little ways and is like "eh whatever" and leaves it. So not interested. Now push toys and ride on toys he still loves because he can push them IN TO THINGS and go CRASH! LOL