>Gotta love the little monsters that can be so pleased with those
>inexpensive and easy to get toys!
 
So far I have bought for my two rapidly-growing girls the following toys:
 
1.  Two mini-sized Nylabones
2.  Two hard rubber balls
3.  One hard plastic ball with bell inside
 
I judge their appreciation for playthings by (a) how much they play with
them and (b) how adamant they are about stashing them in their favorite
hiding places.  So far they have shown me that their favorite toys are:
 
1.  The two EMPTY packages the Nylabones came in (go figure)
2.  Any unopened package of batteries (They like to drag heavy objects
    around.  When I bring home batteries I place the unopened package(s) in
    the middle of the coffee table -- they eventually find them and drag
    them away.  Whenever I need batteries I go to one of their stashes and
    open a pack, then I throw the empty package into the middle of the room,
    because they also like;)
3.  Any EMPTY battery package
4.  A pair of white tubular sweat socks (unwashed, of course)
5.  Any and all "crinkly" plastic bags from the grocery store (I no longer
    recycle these -- I just throw them on the floor when I get home.  When
    the floor looks too cluttered I pick them up and stuff them into a
    closed cardboard box with a hole cut into the side.  The girls
    periodically dive into this box to have a "crinkle-fest" and dook so
    loudly it sounds like monkey-chatter!)
6.  The empty cardboard tubes from rolls of toilet paper
7.  Empty cardboard sleeves from VHS cassettes
8.  Cardboard mailing tubes (which I place along baseboards and at the foot
    of bookcases around the apartment)
9.  Plastic drinking straws
10. Any cardboard box that is hard to get into (for instance, cutting a hole
    in the side that is barely big enough for them to squeeze through)
11. Empty gallon milk jugs, washed and dried, and a couple of "hard to
    squeeze through" holes cut in the sides.  They not only like climbing
    inside these and having wrestling matches, they like pushing and pulling
    them around the room as well.
 
You may think my apartment looks like a bomb went off in it, but such is not
the case.  When they aren't playing with their "toys" they carefully stash
most of them away in their "hiding" places.  The only time things are
chaotic is when I go around and remove everything from the stashes and throw
it all out into the room.  They then spend the next hour happily putting it
all back where it "belongs." (BTW: I daily check all their goodies to make
sure they aren't chewing off pieces.  If I suspect they are trying to, I
take that item away and toss it out.)
 
My advice:  Don't waste your money on toys.  Give them your TRASH instead.
They love it!
[Posted in FML issue 1444]