I've been invited to my first First Birthday party...
One of the pastors of my church is around my age and she's putting on a party for her baby and her husband, whose birthday is also coming up. This week, her baby, Elizabeth, took her first unassisted steps (apparently the motivation behind it was to get something the dog had). Since I'm a therapist for children, I thought, "I should get her something functional!" and looked around on the internet last night for ideas of what to get a newly walking human being.
From what I read, push toys seemed to be the best idea. As I was at a client's house this morning, I asked his mom, who has a 5-year-old and an 18-monther, what she would recommend for a one-year-old-just-learning-to-walk-by-herself. She said a push-popper.
Okay, I can do that, I thought.
I went on with my day and was sitting at home after work when I thought, waitaminute...the party's tomorrow! CRAP! So I slipped my shoes on and darted out the door. As I was driving it occurred to me that while I work with and can find toys for 2-8 year-old autistic kids, I don't know where to find baby stuff. Don't misunderstand, I know where to find diapers and bottles and cutesy clothes - I see that stuff everywhere - but when it comes to baby toys, the only store I know of is Toys 'R Us. Guess what we don't have anywhere nearby for a last minute 8:30 PM trip.
I decided to try Target. As I walked up and down the three half-aisles next to the baby clothes, I was talking to myself, saying, "Too young, too old, not what I'm looking for..." I briefly considered just getting her clothes and being done with it. Heck if I know what size to get her. Forget that. I was still gung-ho about a functional toy, anyway. Unsure where to go next, I called Mom ( @saintvi ). She seemed to think it was funny that I had no clue where to find baby toys. The best store around (apparently) is actually within walking distance of my apartment. However, it would have been closed by then. As we were talking, I pulled out my planner and realized the party isn't until Sunday (WHEW!) but I was out and about and still wanted to try to find a push-popper.
Hesitantly, she suggested Wal-Mart. It's near Target and open 24 hours. I sighed. Those of you from Everywhere But Here and especially those of you from Arkansas can never appreciate the awfulness of our local Wal-Mart. It's ghetto. It's gotten a little better over the years, but it still sucks Wal-Mart booty. You know the People of Walmart site? Half the entries are probably from ours. Every time I go in there, I keep my eyes peeled for Willy the Wal-Mart Pimp. He has his own facebook page.
When I walked into Walhell, I paused between the greeting cards and the Rachel Ray pots and pans. Where the heck is the baby stuff? Upon scrutinization of ceiling-hung signs, I ended up following the arrow pointing to Toys, figuring I'd end up between Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels. But lo and behold, there was an aisle for babies. Yay.
Pretty quickly, I found the little pusher-poppers. There was the classic bubble with a handle hanging from a hook on a strip in front of the shelves.
I rolled it on the ground and winced at how loud it popped. Hmm. I don't want to be known as She-Who-Has-No-Children-And-Buys-Obnoxious-Toys-For-Ours, so I put it back. I saw a bubble-blowing lawn mower. I thought that looked pretty cool, but the kid in the picture looked a little older. Sure enough, made for 2-4 year-olds. Fine. There wasn't much in the way of poppers, but there were a few more push toys. However, they all played music.
I love music. Heck, I have two degrees in the subject. What I do not love is the gratingly loud computer-generated crap that comes out of most baby toys. All the boxes, so I discovered today, have it described as a great attribute to stimulate your child's auditory senses. Maybe because I work with autistic children I'm a little more sensitive to the idea of over-stimulation...or maybe because I don't have kids and that kind of noise sends me into an internal rage...whatever the reason...I can't handle those sounds and wouldn't knowingly wish to give them to someone else.
Finally, I found one push toy that looked like it might be acceptable. It plays music (unfortunately) but it didn't look as flashy and obnoxious as the others. It's main board of activities comes off and can be used while the baby is sitting down, which I thought particularly age appropriate for Elizabeth. I was still a little unsure of the sound aspect, so I picked up the box and wandered down the aisles of Wally World, hugging it to my chest, until I came across a very mom-looking woman perusing DVDs with an 8ish-year-old boy.
"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" I asked, awkwardly.
"Suuure." Hesitant. Probably wondering (considering the location of this store) what I was on.
"You're a mom, right?"
"Ye-es."
I flipped the box around so she could see it. "Would you think this was horribly annoying if someone gave this to your one-year-old kid?"
At that, she relaxed into Helper-Mom mode and, with hawk-eyed precision, immediately pointed out the very small button in the picture that controlled the volume. She informed me these toys are usually not really that loud and that even so, they can usually be turned off (I suppose taking batteries out is always an option). Overall, she said it shouldn't be annoying.
I bought it.
Then, in the parking lot, halfway to my car, I realized I forgot to ask for a gift receipt. I went back in, got a gift receipt, and came home. I looked up the toy online for reviews. It seems to average about 4 out of 5 stars but the reviews were making me squeamish. People are saying it's really lightweight, which, for some is good because they can pack it in the car easily, but others were telling tales of new-walkers pushing too hard on it and having it either whoosh out from under them or smacking them on the head/face when they inevitably fall down or try to pull themselves up with it.
I had an image of my pastor's adorable baby with a fat lip because of me and my stupid gift. Oh jeez.
I think I'm going to wait to wrap it until Sunday and try to look around the awesome (though small) toy store near me for something better.
I'm feeling out of my element and a little nervous.
EDIT:
After a light saber battle and multiple toy hunting and wild west gun fights in the aisles of Meijer, I spontaneously drove to South Bend with a buddy and checked out Toys 'R Us. We found this:
It looks a little more sturdy and doesn't have annoying sounds. I hope they don't kill me for the assembly required. I'm done. All this baby stuff in my apartment is making me feel weird...like I want one of my own or something crazy like that.
