These are a few of our favorite things

You've already heard about my baby registry favorites. Today's list is a bit different; it includes some of our favorite toys, games, activities, etc. as of late.

Charlotte is 16 months old and she is a busy girl. She plays hard all.day.long.

Here are a few things that have gotten consistent use over the months :

• Y Bike by Pewi- this is the best toy we have in our house!! Charlotte has spent hours and hours and hours on this thing. She got it around Thanksgiving (as an early Christmas gift) and it took her about 10 days to figure it out. She used it a LOT to practice walking and she got really fast at riding it around the house. If you only buy one thing for your child, buy this bike. And buy it BEFORE they learn how to walk. 

• Tegu blocks- these wooden blocks with magnets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. There are countless ways to use these... we often build something random and Charlotte knocks it down. Or she  puts together/pulls apart two of the smaller ones, over and over and over again. Or she sticks them to the metal baby gate. 

• Board books

• Giant cardboard box- You may have seen my hilarious set of photos with Charlotte in baskets/boxes. Her favorite is a big box from Amazon that sits in our living room. She keeps all her animals in there, and has a rotating set of toys that are also allowed in.

• Stuffed animals- though I would never have chosen for these to be one of Charlotte's favorites, she loves them! We have only bought one stuffed animal for her (before she was born), and I don't think we will EVER buy her another, nor will we request anyone else buy her more because she has enough! She takes them in and out of her box whenever she's sitting in there. She hugs and kisses them. She takes them around the house and gives them rides on her bike. 

• Two wooden trucks (made by Wonderworld)- my mom gave these to Charlotte and she is really good at using them. In my limited experience, they are REALLY easy to use and they go super fast. They even work on the carpet, which is amazing. 

• Plastic eggs and a cardboard carton- Charlotte got these from my mom back in February and she played with them multiple times a day for at least three months. Some of them cracked (once she figured out that throwing them across the room was really fun!) so they've gotten thrown away, but C. will still play with the 5 or so we have left. 

• Pretend food- Charlotte has these two sets, which her uncle gave her for Christmas, AND she has a "new" sushi set that my mom gave her months ago (but I just took out of the box this week :) ). She is very interested in stirring the salad, and drinking from the bottle of juice, and pouring olive oil into her bowl. Personally, I'm a HUGE fan of wooden toys and really really really like the wooden food sets she has. I'm not interested in collecting a ton more at this point, but some day I hope to get her some wooden eggs and a few more wooden food items to go in her play kitchen. 

• One baby doll- some day we may buy her more dolls, but for now, one is just right. She has a lot of stuffed animal friends, so I don't want to add to the clutter, plus a lot of baby dolls are just plain strange. Goofy faces, strange hair textures, the ability to eat, poop, and talk, etc. etc... Charlotte calls her doll "baby" and puts her in the swing, takes her in the car, hugs her, carries her around, etc. It's really precious. 

• Water table- last summer Charlotte had an inflatable pool, which she loved, but last month I bought a used water table at the church flea market for a dollar. We keep it in the back yard and Charlotte plays with it at least once, sometimes more like two to three times a day. She LOVES scooping the water with her little shovel, and splashing herself (and us!) as she plays. Best dollar I've ever spent. 

• Measuring cups, specifically the kind that you can collapse to store- my mom gave me a set of plastic/rubber measuring cups a few years ago and I've been letting Charlotte play with them whenever I need to work in the kitchen but she's feeling particularly needy for attention. She can sit on the counter for at least twenty minutes, opening and closing the cups. Sometimes she needs a bit of help to get them open, but she can flatten them all easily and thinks it's a really fun game. And I think it's really wonderful to get dinner made or the dishwasher emptied :) win-win, really. 

How about you? What things are your kids loving lately?