I believe I mentioned that Bella took her first steps on Christmas day at my Mom’s place. Since then, she hasn’t stopped moving! She’s gone from tentative walking and falling over and then crawling to a stationary object to get back up to walking at a pace that is approaching a run and now if she happens to take a tumble she’s up before we figure out how she fell. It’s insane how fast they learn! She still enjoys crawling occasionally, but it’s getting less and less and is primarily when I’m chasing her or she’s chasing a ball or toy.

She got so many new toys for Christmas (and at the post-Christmas sales – ahem) and then for her birthday that our living room is positively busting at the seams. We chose not to have a playroom and allow the kids to play through the entire house so it’s easy for things to get carried away. If we’re not careful it looks like Toys R Us puked in our living room. For that reason, I purge toys frequently and either donate or sell them. We got a few things that will never be purges because of their lasting potential through the ages. Most of those toys are either of the building or musical type, but there are exceptions like the Parents Busy Zoo that she got from my Mom for her birthday. Every kid that walks in the house goes straight for it, from 6 months to 6 years.

Another of the things we got that isn’t going anywhere is the Little First Act Discovery Crawl n’ Go Drum“>Crawl & Go Drum from Little First Act Discovery that we were sent to review. We were given a choice of several instruments to review and chose this one because it gives more bang for your buck. (Not my buck – we got ours free!) It’s one of the few things she will still crawl for! The drum itself features two modes of play that you switch between with a simple switch. (There’s an off switch too, which is an important feature in musical toys that’s often left out!) The first setting illuminates the pads, encouraging musical interaction for the youngest of inquisitive babies and plays songs when the buttons are pushed, and the second mode plays single notes allowing the older child to compose their own songs. When the drum is rolled on its side, mellow steel drum music plays, encouraging baby to crawl. The bottom of the drum has a lid that opens to reveal three percussion instruments are sized just right for a baby’s hands –a maraca, castanet, and tambourine – which offer opportunities to grasp, shake, and jiggle and also offer an opportunity for shape sorting play as the instruments are put away in their respective holes. We love it and both of our kids and all of their friends spend a lot of time enjoying it. The soft steel drum sounds aren’t at all annoying either, which is a nice bonus.

There are lots of other toys available from Little First Act Discovery that are likely worth checking out too – it seems like a great brand!

Win it! I get to give one of you fine folks a Crawl & Go Drum! To enter, email muchmorethanamom@gmail.com with DRUM in the subject line before noon mst this Friday, January 23, 2009. Each email receives one entry, but if you include the source of the title of this post you get a bonus entry. And a song stuck in your head. You’re welcome. The drum will be shipped it out this weekend!

Congrats to my new friend Elizabeth, who won this drum for her 8 month old boy-girl twins! It’s in the mail…