Extending our Melissa and Doug toy family

I wouldn't say we love Melissa and Doug toys but we like them a bit more than Hapé and unfortunately, there is not much other choice in Estonia. Ok, Goki, but I don't like shop assistants working in Looduspere, they should be much much nicer for the money I spend there. 

I guess it was in August when I had an urge to buy some more toys because nothing seemed to make him happy, so I bought this cutting fruits. He is able to cut the banana and the melon. The other ones are still too difficult. Contrary to that, he can use force to dismantle the other fruits. He is also trying to put it back together. It is still not an activity he would choose often, but I can sense he will enjoy it a bit later when his fine motor skills improve a bit more.

I sometimes read that this is a totally pointless toy, one should rather let the child cut real fruit. We do it with bananas, but this is clean and can be repeated over and over. 

Together with the fruits, I bougth him this stamping set, 4+. At the beginning it seemed like he is really too young for it, he tried to draw with the stamps, but lately he has figured it out and is stamping like crazy. He needs assistance as he closes the ink box and cannot open it on his own. And of course, he has to be supervised where he is stamping because...well, cleaning the carpet or dog is not fun. He also likes to play just with the stamps, take them out, put them back in, say "brm-brm-brm" or "sh-sh-sh".

Finally, the newest member of our Melissa and Doug family, a huge bead maze to replace the simple one we used to have.

The simple Melissa and Doug bead maze, which was replaced.

The new, more challenging bead maze.

I noticed him playing a lot with the simple bead maze like two weeks ago, then we visited several institutions where they had the IKEA one (where did they get it if there is no IKEA in Estonia???No fair) and he would spend 20 minutes playing with it on his own. Mother's dream. Seriously. So it was decided we HAVE TO buy him something bigger and more complicated. Got a really good deal on this one, bought it from a woman whose child didn't play with it much, but it was still half-price and in mint condition. We usually buy him new toys because people usually don't sell used toys which would go with what we believe in...and also we are lazy to look for good deals. Anyway, he loves it. And that's what's the most important.

How to entertain a 13-month old?

Take them for a toddler walk. Spring and summer are really great for this (I actually plan to continue even in autumn and winter), it does not require much activity from your side because the new walkers are quite slow and everything on the way is soooo interesting, so the walks is more about the walking and exploring experience than really getting somewhere.

Our morning walk is about 500m long and it takes us about an hour, I sometimes carry Teodor, so we get somewhere because we have Charlie (dog) with us and the walk is also meant for him :)

Here is a list of things he does on the walk (not all every time but you can see how he can turn a boring ten-minute walk into a whole adventure :)

Sit pretty under the almost-in-blossom tree and examine the flowers around.

Drain covers are just irresistible

Pee-a-boo before going home

Walking up the stairs on his own

Splashing puddles.

Examining a rock he found in the puddle. Charlie is not amused.

Watching cars

Taking his pull animal for a walk

Testing whether the licence plate is well-attached

Taking a selfie with mummy...this is one of the ways how to get him from A to B fast

Finding sticks (there is usually Charlie on the other end)

Climbing on everything

Sometimes we watch children in the kindergarten, that day nobody was out.

Sitting on whatever it is called and examining the "nail"?

Truck!!!

Playing with sand/picking up stones

If I had Internet on my phone, I could be online most of the time, those walks make it very easy to entertain the child, which is sometimes challenging at home as he doesn't have that many toys (ok, he has enough but not that many that he could be throwing them out of several boxes and it would take him an hour) or we don't let him watch youtube (we don't have TV). And I finally have to remember to dress myself warmer than the child because he is almost always in motion while I'm standing nearby being cold.

Raising money for starting our own business

We want to start our own business, but it requires a lot of money at the beginning...and as I'm flying to Czech in June and I have one spare luggage, we came up with the idea to sell things our dad makes in his free time. Anyway, boost our dad's ego and buy his creations, Czech people contact me on MK, the other people will find them on etsy (I will post a link this weekend when he finally uploads them there)

Montessori Permanence Box, 10 euros

Montessori coin box, 10 euros

Ball run with two wooden balls (not painted), 25 euros