Favorite Toys!

 The other day I was at B&N and I saw some retro packaging of classic toys and I got to thinking of the toys I played with as a kid. Some of them I remember distinctly and others I just know about because I see them in my childhood photos and I thought it might be nice to write down Anna and baby Iggy's current favorite toys and update it when things change or get get outgrown.




 First of all....I wouldn't be able to live without this Little Einsteins jumper. Both kids love(d) this more than any other jumper, bouncer, swing or walker. Anna outgrew it as soon as she could walk and I put it away but once baby Iggy started using it she wanted to get in it too haha, I just put it on the tallest setting and she bounces away in it.

 

Poor sweet Ellie. I bought this when Anna was barely crawling thinking it would buy me a few minutes of free time. Instead we had had to play with her together because Anna had me fetch the balls and hand them to her to give back to Ellie. Over the months though Anna has taken to stuffing poor Ellie with random toys and will go get me when things get stuck. I've found pens, crayons, and blocks in Ellie's trunk.




1.) Pillow pet! I had to find the pic I took when I first bought it and I'm putting it below. Sophie the giraffe is a favorite of both kids. Terrible church toy though.

 2.) Anna's favorite books at the moment, the first one has pull out animals, I'll pull them out first, then point to the whole and ask her what animal goes there and she picks it and makes the animal noise =). The our five senses book has  spots for the wooden pieces in the pages. I'm missing the sparrow and it's driving me crazy. Furry Babies and Little Feet Like are fuzzy books. When we read the Little Feet Like Anna rubs her feet against the textures by herself.

3.) This shelf thing holds all her books, but her cousins are giving her their bookcase+ books this week so we might move them into that if there is room.  Also some more favorite toys, Anna has two of those stackable ring things and she's been loving them all of a sudden for the past week.

4.) This is a good toy for your toddler to get their aggression out haha. Anna took it on as a job to get ALL the nails down the first few times which is impossible. Also notice the crayon and dent marks.

5.) Toy phone. This one lets you record a message. Ours always has a message from me or Iggy extolling Anna's virtues.

 
(The infamous Anna/pillow pet pic)



These are baby Iggy's favorite toys. 1.)The little toy rattle I bought just for him on a "my poor baby just gets Anna's hand-me-downs kick. 2) My parents bought baby Iggy the seahorse for Christmas. It was hard finding a present to give to baby in an incubator that he would like and he LOVES this thing. It's his buddy. 3.) Soft books. I bought Anna that Baby Panda book when I was working in Torrance. There was a Border's and Barnes and Noble right by my hospital and I lived an hour away so sometimes I would get there early and go buy Anna things because I missed her so much. The ABC's book was in Anna's first Easter Basket from Auntie Meli.

In action:



My little Alfalfa =)


Anna has a few baby dolls but she always has one favorite at a time. Recently it's been this Donutella doll that Iggy bought her at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. She rocks it and kisses it and gives her to me to do the same.


These are both the kids favorite books. Anna used to hate riding in the car at night and we HAD to have these handy. My mom bought her the Vtech one, Auntie Lolita bought her the sleepy time one, and I made her the album book. Again, I bought it before work at the Babies R Us down the street from my hospital. I think if I stopped spending so much I would have realized I didn't need to work sooner haha.



(clockwise)
Anna's cousin Chris gave Anna a BUNCH of old toys one day after my sister sat him down and told him to take out toys he outgrew. I literally needed like 16  AA batteries haha. This phone is the only one that was a little hinky because of rusted springs but she still loves this phone. It doesn't slow her down when she's shouting into the reciever. 2.) These are world of B rubbery building blocks. they're easier to stack because they aren't slippery so both kids love them. 3) Rattle I bought at Michael's. Baby Iggy loves it. 4.) Melissa and Doug cube that Anna drew all over. I bought this a little early but it's pretty cool watching your child grow into a toy and master it. Anna flys through putting the blocks in the right place now.




This is our sometimes bed set, but both kids LOVE it. Anna has been known to take a pillowcase to the playground or grocery shopping and it makes baby Iggy happy too.

 

1.)Iggy bought Anna this toy ASAP when he saw her playing it at Barnes and Noble. The real selling point is that it plays Led Zepplin's stairway to heaven on acoustic. 2.) My best friend Genevieve bought Anna these wooden puzzles. I hate her. I'm missing the duck on one of them and it keeps me up some nights. 3) I bought Anna these trains at ikea, it's a simple figure 8 that was ten bucks and she loves them more than I thought she would.4.)CRAYONS!.



1.) Technically these aren't a toy but Anna loves them so much. 2.) baby Iggy's little soothie friend, this wooden Peter Rabbit was in baby Iggy's first Easter basket and it hops when it's pulled! Anna plays it with it a lot currently haha. The Velveteen Rabbit was in Anna's first Easter basket but baby Iggy plays with it more. Go figure.



Chris gave Anna this puppy last year and both kids love playing with it so much. I love used toys that are passed down in the family, I can still remember Chris playing with it.





I bought baby Iggy this skip hop play mat a week after he came home. I have a hard time finding boy things I like and this was the only one that I really liked.



My mom bought Anna this swing and she loves it more as time goes on. She'll sometimes take me outside specifically to swing her and she always pushes her brother when he's in it.



swing again. 2.) We went to a family party a few months ago and they had this basketball hoop. Anna started playing with it. Knowing Iggy I asked him when he was going to buy Anna a hoop."Today or tomorrow" was his immediate answer haha. 3.) I bought Anna the water table last year knowing she'd love it and she totally does. Sometimes she gets in it haha. 4.) We got a bigger pool for 30 bucks at Sams' Club but it was annoying changing out the dirty water because it was so much, and really Anna needs any old bit of water to have fun. 5.) This dino walker/ride toy was Anna's first birthday present. still loves it.




My mom BEGGED us to buy Anna a house. I didn't think she'd even play with it much but she does. Every kid that comes over wants to spend their whole time in here. My mom bought Anna some racks at t.j max to put away her dishes. The spice rack usually holds her play toys but she knocked them to floor today.



And finally the Weebles. My friend Paulette gave this to Anna last year and Anna likes teh song. Sometimes she cheats and puts the Weeble on the second to the top rung so she doesn't have to turn the crank so muc.

And those are the favorite toys. Anna has more than baby Iggy because she's obviously older, but also because Baby Iggy's favorite pasttime is being held so there isn't a lot of room for toys :p