Who Needs Toys??

I am continuously amazed at the way Miss loves to play with things that are not her toys. In fact, she often seems to prefer these random non-toy things over her well-researched and carefully selected baby toys. What types of things? Oh, her socks, that she repeatedly pulls off her feet in some sort of private lets-see-how crazy-I-can-make-my-mommy game. It's not a big deal of course, except that it's cold here, and I don't want her little tootsies to get cold. So she pulls them off, chews on them for a bit, and then I put them back on. Round and round we go. Why don't I just give her an extra sock to play with, you ask? Tried it. No good. I think it's the act of pulling it off her foot that is part of the fun!

Other items Miss loves to play with include the drawstring of my hubby's old scrub pants that I typically wear when just around the house, her daddy's feet (ewww!), her nail clippers, plastic bags (no, I don't let her play with these!), junk mail (catalogs especially, so shiny!), the rug, the floor, and any random bit of grass/leaf/stick that she might find on the floor (I vacuum like mad, but cut me a break, we have two dogs!!). The other day she entertained herself for the longest time with a plastic cup and the metal lid to one of my small saucepans (video of this below, notice how she almost got distracted by the sock). And of course, the best part of anything, including her toys, is the tag.

Now, I know this is not unusual. Miss is not the first baby to love to play with all-things-not-a-toy. I have just thoroughly enjoyed watching her do this. It's as though the most mundane things that we don't even notice in every day are so fascinating to her. She can become so focused on something so small. I love watching her and trying to make myself see the world through her eyes. The joy and wonder of looking at things in that way is so simple and pure, as babies are of course. Maybe Santa should bring her the boxes for the toys at Christmas time. I'm sure she'd love that!