Tuco’s New Toys

Sometimes, I feel like Tuco is bored. Winter will do that to people, even little babies. It was much better in the summer when we could go to the park to get a change of scenery and some fresh air.

Now that Tuco is a few months older, I will start taking him to classes in January. This will help keep both of us from getting bored. In the meantime, I’ve been trying to think up new things that he’ll find interesting. I thought about that video of a baby laughing at ripping paper, and I realized I had to get back to basics. You know, kick it old school.

I began by plagiarizing the ripping paper idea. I grabbed a pile of junk mail and started tearing. Not one laugh. But he was intrigued by the paper, so I let him have a Trader Joe’s ad. That bought me about 20 minutes of a contained, happy Tuco. All I had to do was sit nearby and not let him eat the paper. He was fully focused as he waved the paper around and opened and closed the booklet.

With the success of my junk mail experiment, I decided to kick it up a notch. I took a cardboard box and put Tuco in it. He was amazed and excited. No extra toys were necessary. He sat in that thing playing for a good half hour. You can get the gist of what he did during that time while watching the video below.

I find myself giving Tuco all kinds of non-toy items to play with, and he loves it. Is he crying in his high chair when I’m trying to get his meal ready? Have a measuring cup, Tuco. Is he crabby in his exersaucer though I need him to stay in it for a little while longer? Have a spatula, Tuco. Wait, no. Take the potato masher. You played with the spatula for a long time yesterday.

Advertisement