Week of July 1 - Emily Meets TJ Bearytales - Big Hit!

As I am sure is common with most parents, during birthday and Christmas we tuck some of the toys and other presents that our children receive away for later. In some cases, to spread the "toy load" out some, and in other cases because the toys are a little advanced in age. One of the toys we bought for Emily last Christmas was a TJ Bearytales singing talking bear. You can buy different cartridges for the bear and he will sing and tell different theme stories. Only problem is that the bear is designed for ages 3+. So naturally we put him away for later.

Although TJ is for 3+ and Emily is just about to turn 2 later this month, Emily continues to be quite advanced in her cognitive developments and so this last week I decided to unpack TJ and see how she would interact with the little fella. I think this first picture sort of says it all, with Emily smiling and giving TJ a great big hug. :)


As you can see, BIG HIT! And of course my little gadget girl took about 2 minutes to figure out that all the control buttons were on his back pack and she was pretty much in control of things from that point on. Emily talks to TJ. Emily laughs and giggles when he talks and moves his ears, and arms, and eyes. Emily sings along with TJ when he is singing, and will clap and jump up and down in excitement.

So very much the right toy for Emily at this time in her development since she craves lots of stimulation, particularly talking and singing. Takes a load off of Daddy too, as that is a little less talking and singing required of me. :-) Go TJ!

The only thing we do not allow Emily control over at this point is the theme cartridges. I think we will wait a bit longer before we put all of those into his backpack and turn her loose to choose and plug-in the cartridges on her own. Let's just say that the cartridges would be something I would be constantly searching for and digging out of the toy box, out from under the couch, etc., etc. at this point.

So with that, let me share an encore of some additional photos of Emily as she meets TJ for the very first time.





My Dad is coming in to town for the weekend, and he cannot wait to see his granddaughter again. So next week will of course feature Emily and PaPa sharing some quality time together. :)