Seriously, why buy toys?

When playing with Lucas, we have learned that his attention span requires at least 6 different toys to keep his hands, mouth, and brain occupied and away from my fingers, my hair, my earrings, or any paper good I may hold in my possession. The fascination with those toys lasts about a second each, and then he is on to the fun, grown up stuff that we would not think in a million years to give him. We have found new uses for the millions of Mardi Gras cups I brought home two years ago, as he likes to play with them in the tub and bang them on his changing table. They keep his hands occupied while I try to change his diaper. Let's just say the boy has discovered his parts, and that's fine, it's just when his plumbing is covered with poop, we want to keep everyone as clean as possible.

He has also developed a fascination with rubber spatulas, which make great teething toys, but only until his attention is turned towards the dog's food dish and he decides it is time to drop the spatula and the little tupperware filled with black pepper pods (what a fun noisemaker!), and take a bath in the dog's water dish. The church bulletin is a nice distraction too, until mom takes it away from him for making too much noise in church and his ear piercing wails of disagreement force a hasty exit to the church entrance where we hang out with the ushers for the rest of the service. We have also found that washrags, flip-flops, and coffee cups are fun toys until mom the kill joy takes away all the fun. The metal mixing bowl dad gave him lasted for a few minutes because we want to prolong the drumset for at least 15 years.