Motherhood Monday: Our Favorites at 18 Months

Looks like I haven't shared Mia's favorite things in months and months! (In case you missed it, our favorites for newborns, at six months, and at nine months. The smock bibs are my #1 overall pick though!) I, like every parent, bought approximately 1 million unnecessary items at the beginning of the pandemic hoping to keep Mia occupied, and of course her favorite activity is still taking all of our DVDs out of the cabinet. But, we do have a few new favorites I wanted to share. 

Climbing Triangle - I saw these on Instagram last year and thought, well that looks fun but not like something we have space for. But as I'm preparing for #pandemicwinter, I thought having something Mia could climb on indoors would be really nice to have for burning off energy and getting out her need to climb. I love this thing so far. We got the triangle with the slide/rockwall combo, which I like now but assume I will love once Mia figures out how to get onto the slide by herself. The only note I'd give is to just get the natural finish, and the white finish has already started to chip a little on the slide from flipping it over. 

Angelina Ballerina - Mia is obsessed with this book, we read it at least 10x a day. The story is about a little mouse who wants to be a ballerina. The book is so well done, the little illustrations are really cute and detailed. I remember reading the rest of the series that was written in the '80s and it turns out they're out of print! So I ended up finding a set on eBay to keep the love going (I found another set available here). I plan to give them to Mia one at a time as gifts over the next couple of years. 

Soccer Ball and Net - When we first started thinking about outdoor toys for our roof deck, every idea I had seemed like a bad idea on a fourth floor deck. I just had images of baseballs and basketballs flying off the roof and hitting passers by. A slide Mia could climb on also seemed like an exceedingly bad idea if it meant she could then climb up onto the waist-high wall. So a soccer ball and net it was! She figured out almost right away how to kick the ball, and even if she isn't kicking loves putting the ball in the net and cheering. 

Lovevery Toddler Kits - We received the baby kits as a gift when Mia was born, and I loved them. They are boxes filled with "Montessori" style toys, meaning they are mostly wood or natural materials, don't make noises or have flashing lights, and encourage babies to play in multiple ways to build creativity. There were always a few "filler" items in the boxes I didn't feel were necessary, but then all of Mia's absolute favorite toys came from the boxes too. The toddler kits, however, are a whole different ball game. Every item that comes out of them has been high quality and fun! If there's any problem, it's that we have too many toys now! 

Water Wow Books - I want to get Mia into coloring, but she is so dang messy with everything that I don't always want to go through the effort of pulling everything out and cleaning it up just for five minutes of fun. These books are great for mess-free painting at home or on the go. You just fill up the little "pen" with water, and they paint on the blank pages to reveal color. They dry blank again so you can use them over and over! 

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