from the MisfitMenagery

When it comes to real live taxidermy, I can get a little squeamish. Once, my husband and I were vacationing in Switzerland and arrived at one of our hotels late one night. Little did we know that each of the rooms had unique themes, and after being lead through the windy paths that made up the hotel complex in the dead of night, we were presented with our “hunting” themed room. I entered the room first and let out a shriek. Animal skulls and unfinished pelts hung from every corner of the room. Not the best room choice for a vegetarian and her animal-loving husband. The hotel itself was beautiful though, so we carried on, but there was one wall in particular I could not bring myself to look at the entire stay. My husband kept commenting morbidly that the skulls reminded him of our skinny little rat terrier back at home.

So why then, do i find stuffed animal taxidermy so amusing? I mean, isn’t it still at least signifying a dead animal? It may be, but there’s something I like about markers of the upper crust, items that would be found in hunting lodges or country estates, translated into materials and brought into places we can all enjoy.

from Aircreatures

That’s what first drew me to faux taxidermy plushies. Years ago, we purchased a “stuffed” unicorn to mount on our walls. I can’t remember the details of the purchase or who created it, but these days, you can find plenty similar stuffed animals on etsy. MisfitMenagerie, for example, offers standard fair such as deer, goats, and rabbit heads. Aircreatures mixes it up with some made up animals like the Giraffelephant (pictured) or Mr. Dear-Moose-Stachio.

from Good Evening

However, these taxiplushie wall hangings from Japan kick up the absurdity a notch (via Kickcans & Conkers). They revolt against their passive, humiliating position as human trophies, instead making their escape by leaping through the wall. They’d make a perfect accompaniment to the unicorn we bought, which I plan on hanging in Archie’s room (side note: We’ve been embarrassingly slow at decorating his room. Perhaps more decorating blog posts like this can kick me into gear).

(via Cool Mom Picks)

1. ImagiPLAY Bear Bead Maze: Six beads, one wire, cute bear–that’s it. Simple, small, effective.

2. Melissa & Doug Deluxe First Bead Maze: Recommended for ages 12 months to 4 years, this bead maze has a good variety of bead shapes and colors, plus there’s two little abacus-like wires at the base. It’s still simple, with only a few wires, but has a lot of different shapes to explore

3. Educo Countdown Wire Maze: This maze takes the complexity of the maze design up a notch from the mazes above. The beads themselves are rubber, and the product description describes an outerspace theme with rockets, craters, and moons. I have to say that while I didn’t immediately see this and think “outerspace,” it could be how an imaginative kid approaches this maze.

4. City Beads Urban Wired Bead Maze: Now we’re stepping up into the deluxe territory. Trains, cars, and even planes move through land and sky in this cityscape. This base is actually raised up so that your kid can sit and play comfortably, plus it’s non-toxic!

5. Youniversity Wood Activity Cube: Holy crap. This is the like the Rolex of the wire bead maze world. Sitting on top of a wooden hexagon, this bead maze also involves a city theme, with a park, schoolhouse, and bike path. Moreover, the sides of the hexagon are covered in bells and whistles, like a color wheel, alphabet blocks and a counting tree.

We originally bought this mat for our outdoor patio, but found that every night, all the pieces of this interlocking mat would blow away. At the same time that we discovered this mat wouldn’t work outdoors, Archie started sitting. This also meant he started falling, so we quickly brought this mat inside to pad his play area.

It turns out, as an added bonus, this mat is composed of puzzle pieces. Archie loves these. They’re kind of one of his favorite toys. He likes to pull off the edges of the mat, take the center rings out, wave them in the air, chew on them, throw them–basically anything he can think to do with them.

So, when I saw these felt rug designs with laser cut removable pieces from Polish based designers Youlka Designs, I immediately thought of how much Archie would love them. Right now, the squishiness of the rubber Tadpoles mat probably suits him well, but I’m already looking around for more fun rugs for when he gets a bit older, and this would definitely be on the list (if they had a retailer in the US). These rugs retain the puzzle fun, but in shapes (cars, jungle animals, roosters) that can encourage more imaginative play.

(via little. lovely.)

1. Using objects with purpose: Oh, Archie understands how to use objects. Right now, however, the uses he envisions are primarily dropping, throwing, rolling, and banging. In the case of his Oball, he’s got it down. He rolls it and bounces it and can amuse himself chasing it around the floor forever. He likes doing this so much, however, that he tries to play the same game with every new toy we introduce to him. So for instance, when we got him these XYZ Blocks, he tried rolling them as well. Needless to say, doesn’t work as well as a ball. But soon, soon he may realize blocks are for stacking, not rolling.
2. Pointing: Currently, Archie will look at objects when I point to them. Soon, he should start pointing on his own, which is definitely an exciting step forward in his communication skills. Right now, you can tell when he wants something by his intense stare and the increasing intensity of his grunts. However, pointing can clarify exactly what he wants when faced with a panoply of toys.
3. Pincers!: Archie’s pincer grasp, or the grasp between his thumb and his index finger, should be getting more precise. This will eventually lead to him being able to feed himself finger foods. While Archie’s been eating solids for the past few months, this new step makes me a bit nervous. It just seems so grown up! Anyway, I suppose there’s no stopping this next step, so we’ve been practicing this pincher grasp out in the yard with leaves and a measuring cup (thanks Mom for the idea!). Here’s how it goes: I put the leaves in the cup. Archie takes them out. I put the leaves in the cup, Archie takes them out. He hates leaves in his cup!

The Baby Rattle has a lot going on. I mean a lot. First there’s the star. It bounces off the sides playing part of a tune–Mary Had a Little Lamb, Yankee Doodle, etc.–every time it his the side of the screen. If you touch it, it opens its eyes and bounces faster. Then it also leaves a trail of stars in its wake. Then this action is also accompanied by the sounds of cheering children.

If you touch anywhere else on the screen, a sheep appears and bahs. Or maybe it will be a cat. Or maybe a dog. Or maybe even a fox. You NEVER KNOW. Finally, shake your iPad, and it’s a rattle! It makes a rattling noise!

So much for simple! With all these features, I don’t think Archie, at his young age, has quite figured out what’s going on. He does watch it. He’s actually quite captivated by the sun and his eyes follow it around the screen. He does touch the screen, but I don’t think he’s put together the cause and effect of his touch with the animals yet. Oh, and he does giggle whenever I shake it. I don’t know if it’s the rattle noise or the movement or both together, but whatever it is, he likes it!

I made this!

The Tesla Toy also capture his attention, as it does mine. I personally find it captivating and rather pretty. I like using it on my own. It’s much simpler than the Baby Rattle Toy. Basically, you touch it and patterns form around the area you touch. Use two or more fingers to create more complex patterns.

Archie definitely responds to this app as well. There are two modes–one where the pattern goes away once you remove your hand, and one where it doesn’t. I set it to the one where the pattern stays, so Archie creates a pattern, then tries to grasp at it again and again, changing it each time.

However, while I find it much prettier, I have to admit that Archie seems less engaged with the Tesla Toy than with the Baby Rattle. I thought the Baby Rattle would be too manic, but the sound effects, that the Tesla Toy lacks, as well as the colorful background (oh yeah, it changes colors), as opposed to the black background of the Tesla, definitely seem to appeal more to my boy.

I should add that on the plus side for both of these apps, they’re designed well for little hands that don’t really know what they’re doing. Other apps that my husband has bought (think the Talking Tom Cat type apps) for his iPad amuse Archie, but also, after a few swift swipes of his hands, quickly lead him to other screens imploring him to buy more. These apps do a much better job of hiding their menus.

Winner: Baby Rattle Toy iPad app

Archie is growing up and out of his bathtubs. We started with the Fisher-Price Whale of a Tub. However, once he started standing, that tub proved pretty unsteady as he’d pull himself up and over the edges to play with the tub drain.

Now he’s moved onto the EasyWalker Flexi Bath. I like this bath for many reason. First of all, it’s much more safe. With the water weighing it down, there’s no way Archie can tip this over. Also, with higher walls, he’s not climbing out of it (yet). Finally, it’s BPA free, so I can feel better about him soaking in it every night.

Archie likes it because it’s bigger. And bigger means more room for toys! He’s moved on from the Elegant Baby rubber duckies to the Boon cups, and those are enjoyable for now. But when it comes time to upgrade again, I have my eyes on the Big Game Water Floater by Materia, a Portugues designer working with cork. These simple, elegant little floaters are sure to capture any kid’s imagination during bathtime play.

(via Josh Spear)

But, this is baby-related. No, these necklaces probably wouldn’t function as teething jewelry. However, you can customize the jewelry to represent your baby’s astrological constellation. Archie’s sign is the Archer or Sagittarius, so there’s a little extra link there between his name and his sign (totally coincidental btw).

I also  like that you can get two pendants on one chain, so you can combine two children on one chain, or significant other and child, or any other combination you can imagine.

And, as a bonus, one of my favorite songs that I sing to Archie, sung to me by my grandfather before him:

First Friends by Erin Chainani

Now that Archie has his first lovie, I have a feeling that we’re only a few months away from ordering a custom portrait of Bandit. In this house, we love original artwork and we love custom paintings and photos. Previously our dogs had been the recipients of our portrait commissions (we have an oil painting of them as well as two poster size headshots of them).

Now we have Archie’s walls to adorn and there seems to be a booming toy portraiture business out there to capture our attention. First off is First Friends by Erin Chainani. These watercolor toy portraits are intimate, precious, and definitely affordable, with prices starting at $65.

custom toy portraits by Jennifer Maher

Next up are custom toy portraits by Jennifer Maher. These acrylic paintings have a little more pop to them. Added bonus–she has experience painting Blabla dolls!