*Image above via Leslee Mitchell, who has the most adorable collection of photographs of vehicles — perfect for a nursery.
I wrote recently that micro has been very into trucks lately, and, thanks to Target (AHEM!!!), a theme for his upcoming second birthday (in May) has taken shape. Thought I’d share my latest truck finds for little ones, including several cute gift ideas:
CUTE DIGGER INVITATIONS FOR A SOCIALLY-DISTANCED BIRTHDAY PARTY
JAMMIES: CECIL & LOU, $10 OLD NAVY STEAL, DALMATIANS-AND-FIRETRUCKS FROM HART + LAND, AND KISSY KISSY (<<ON SALE!)
LOVE THE FRAMED VEHICLE PHOTOS FROM LESLEE MITCHELL
MICRO HAS THESE GREEN TOYS TRUCKS BUT I CAN’T WAIT TO UPGRADE HIS COLLECTION TO INCLUDE BRUDER (HIGH-QUALITY, ULTRA-REALISTIC GERMAN BRAND)
PERSONALIZED STATIONERY (ALSO LOVE THIS SET)
BOOKS: LOVE IS A TRUCK, TRUCKS GO, TRUCKS LIFT-THE-FLAP, TIP TIP DIG DIG, LET’S GO RESCUE TRUCKS
PARTY FAVORS OR SENSORY TRAY FIGURES
GREAT OPTIONS FOR 1-YEAR-OLDS: THIS DUMP TRUCK AND THIS FIRETRUCK
P.S. Ballerina/ballet-inspired finds for littles and a sweet birthday party idea for a little love.
P.P.S. New home finds and last minute Valentine’s Day outfit ideas. Note that the earrings can still be ordered with guaranteed delivery by Valentine’s Day! (And even more Valentine’s Day scores here.)
P.P.P.S. Do you collect anything?
Have you seen the “Little Blue Truck” book series?? They have beautiful illustrations and sweet story lines. My 18 month old wants them read over and over again 🙂
Hi Liz! How could I forget?! We have a few of those books — impossible not to get into the rhythm while reading them 🙂 xx
Love all of your motherhood and children posts! Especially love how you make every day feel so special! I have started adopting your Tuesday “activity planning for kiddos” and have a very serious question – how do you deal with their extremely short attention span?! Do you have 7-8 activities planned out ready to go one after the other? I started out with 2 and felt like less than 30 mins my baby was like “ok next!”
Hi Rayna! You are so sweet — glad the Tuesday planning session has been helpful. Oh YES to the short attention span. When I was first starting out with these planned activities, I routinely over-estimated their expected duration. “This should keep them busy for a good hour!” Nope — most activities, including sensory play and painting, occupy them for about 15 minutes. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, 30. You are so not alone in this! What has been currently helping me is lining up three activities per weekend day, and then planning one outdoor excursion, whether to play in the snow at the park, visit the ducks, pick out a pastry, pick up pizza for dinner, go for scoot, etc. For the indoor activities, I do usually line them up three in a row — once they are engaged in the first, I’ll organize the second so it’s ready to go. I try to keep the second activity out of their view until I feel like they’re starting to disengage with the first (otherwise, they’ll jump ship!). One thing that can help prolong their engagement with a given activity is introducing “twists” just when they are beginning to get bored, i.e., a new color of play-doh or a new bundle of tools, demonstrating a different painting technique or presenting them with a different “thing” to paint (i.e., if painting on paper, introduce a cardboard box or toilet paper roll), or even just modeling a different kind of play (or bringing in those little plastic animals to mix things up).
My other random discovery has been to “end” by positioning them with toys for independent play. So if they’re beginning to wrap up with their painting project, I’ll pull out a set of toys — Duplos, Maileg mice, magnatiles, dinosaurs, cars — and arrange them in a way that invites play, whether by moving the Maileg dollhouse to the middle of the room (instead of leaving it against the wall), sorting all the Duplos into different color-coordinated piles, arranging the dinosaurs on a big blanket with a few pillows as “mountains,” etc. It’s amazing how just moving/manipulating their toys in a different and unexpected way will intrigue them and invite them to sit and play by themselves. That way, when you’re cleaning up from the morning activities, they are (ideally) engrossed in something that they can do on their own with minimal supervision.
In general, though, I so hear you. These babies have short attention spans!!!
xx
Your post reminded me of this road tape we used all the time when Paddy was hospitalized. It’s like painters tape but looks like a road. It was so fun to play with cars, trucks, etc and I loved it because it took up virtually no space.
Hope all is well!
https://www.amazon.com/PlayTape-Black-Road-Children-Birthday/dp/B00GZ8UE2K
Oo, Sarah, thanks so much for the reminder! We bought that early in quarantine and it was a big hit. Need to replenish stock, especially with Hill’s current truck love. Thanks for sharing this!
xx