What Alex Loves Right Now...

• swiffering the kitchen floor (we shortened the handle & he loves it!)

• "So Big" tickles after his bath (oh, you should hear that - best giggle ever!)



• cars & trucks



• Racing Ramp toy



• helping Mama put clothes in the dryer, then shutting the door



• handing me towels & washcloths to fold
  
  
• randomly giving kisses
  
  
• playing with belly buttons (you've been warned, and I apologize in advance!)



• cell phones (we gave him Keith's old phone, charged up but without service)



• walking backward



• playing blocks at his bedroom table (Mama builds a tower, Alex crashes it)
  



• reading books together (when he feels like it, but always before naptime...and often one or two in the evening after dinner) Current favorites are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Bear Snores On and Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type. He's also doing a good job of destroying Aunt Deb's Ten In A Bed pop-up book, but he loves when I sing him that story.



• going "bup" (upstairs to the playroom)



• riding his toy train (for which we'll forever be grateful to Karen for the loan...I dread the day we have to give it back!)



• feeding Maggie



• putting his clothes in the hamper after his bath (yay! we've been working on this!)



• just starting to understand scribbling with crayons



• putting real coins in his piggy bank (with constant supervision, of course) and then shaking the pig



• making funny, scrunchy faces to get us to laugh


• remotes & real phones (which are no-nos, but try & stop him!)



• attempting to play with the dog



• strings, ropes, dog leashes - anything he can drag behind him around the house (I'm thinking of attaching a long ribbon to an empty box so he can drag around his little people or cars



• carrying a paper gift bag filled with little toys



• wearing his toy stethescope and being called "Dr. Alex"
  
  
• playing in the dog's cage
  
  
• playing with a small tub of colored, uncooked macaroni (although I still have to watch closely so he doesn't eat it)
  
  
• playing with a small tub of soapy water
  



• eating bananas - first thing he asks for in the morning, and he continues to ask for bananas all day long. It's a sad day if we're out of bananas. He signs 'banana' and looks longingly at the spot where we keep our bananas. He will beg anyone, anywhere for a banana. When we grocery shop, he MUST hold the bananas...and attempt to eat them through the peel.
  
  
• asking us to "puh" the electronics in our house. I don't know if this is Alex-speak for 'push' or something else, but he asks us to "puh" the TV, the stereo, the cell phones, the light switches...anything that can be turned on & off

I try to encourage him to spend a good amount of time each day with the 'unplugged' variety of toys. I love all our Fisher Price toys, but I'd like Alex to use creativity & imagination, too...something that battery-operated toys don't always allow for.

We've got the Toddler Busy Book by Trish Kuffner (free, thanks to Paperback Swap!), although Alex isn't quite ready for most of the activities yet. We're working on making a few, though. If anyone uses frozen juice/lemonade with the metal lids (small Durkee onion containers with metal lids, too) we'd love to have your lids, please!

A couple favorite toddler activity websites right now are listed below. I look forward to Alex growing into many of the activities found here:

http://www.chasingcheerios.blogspot.com/

http://www.totallytots.blogspot.com/

What were/are your kids favorite things to do at this age? Favorite stories to read? Chores they could help you do? I'm open to suggestions for active ways to keep Alex busy during the day.