puzzlement (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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plan_survive2011-11-09 09:34 pm
puzzlement) wrote in plan_survive2011-11-09 09:34 pm
Gifting chat
You can give me advice, but also, feel free to chat about seasonal present shopping and choices, if they are coming up for you. I'm happy to host an open-ish present thread, I don't urgently need advice.
My situation:
V is 21 months old, will be 23 months at Christmas. Not totally sure what to get him! (And his birthday is less than a month later.) Some things about him:
1. he's still pre/early-language explosion, probably has about 100 words, no sentences
2. he is very active, likes to run and play in water
3. he loves music and dancing
4. we live in a walk-up apartment with little storage space
Some things we are thinking of getting:
A balance bike. Is he too young to figure out how it works any time soon though?
Some kind of play tent something. He loves to hide in child-size "houses" (tents, cubbies) and leap out laughing. It would need to be collapsible.
Very bouncy balls.
Books. Anyone got any young toddler book recommendations? He loves rhymes a heap, also repetition, board book pages that he can turn himself without scrunching them up. (Very toddler, in other words.) Things with plots he shows no sign of following at all. His favourite things are planes, trains, dogs, giraffes, balls, birds (especialy pigeons) and family.
Music. We have They Might Be Giants kids albums but not other kid stuff. Maybe that's OK. He is liking David Bowie right now. But on the other hand, during the year he will presumably make his big language leap into complex sentences and might enjoy things with lyrics that he understands and can sing along to.
My situation:
V is 21 months old, will be 23 months at Christmas. Not totally sure what to get him! (And his birthday is less than a month later.) Some things about him:
1. he's still pre/early-language explosion, probably has about 100 words, no sentences
2. he is very active, likes to run and play in water
3. he loves music and dancing
4. we live in a walk-up apartment with little storage space
Some things we are thinking of getting:
A balance bike. Is he too young to figure out how it works any time soon though?
Some kind of play tent something. He loves to hide in child-size "houses" (tents, cubbies) and leap out laughing. It would need to be collapsible.
Very bouncy balls.
Books. Anyone got any young toddler book recommendations? He loves rhymes a heap, also repetition, board book pages that he can turn himself without scrunching them up. (Very toddler, in other words.) Things with plots he shows no sign of following at all. His favourite things are planes, trains, dogs, giraffes, balls, birds (especialy pigeons) and family.
Music. We have They Might Be Giants kids albums but not other kid stuff. Maybe that's OK. He is liking David Bowie right now. But on the other hand, during the year he will presumably make his big language leap into complex sentences and might enjoy things with lyrics that he understands and can sing along to.
First thoughts are coming out as advice ...
He was able to transition to a pedalled bike at about 4.5 years with little difficulty, so that experiment was a success. The thing that took him longest to learn was braking - and at 5 years old he is pretty competent at cycling in safe off-road places and along pavements when accompanied. The next challenge is rules-of-the-road ...
For books with rhyme and rhythm, we are huge fans of Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclairy books, though I'm not sure if many of them are in board-book versions. I'll have a look at the board books when we get home and see what memories trigger of 2-3 years ago.
I've not had much success with nursery rhymes and other "children's" songs, but he likes a lot of my music collection and sometimes we have fun explorations of it on an iPod. The dance teacher at nursery had him singing YMCA and various Abba songs along with dances (but this was at 4 years old).
Re: First thoughts are coming out as advice ...
V is a very tall child, so he will at least size into toys a little sooner than most children. Maybe that's a good one for his birthday, give him another month of development.