I'm a little behind this year on writing posts for Serenity's Third Year! So there will be a ton of posts over the next week! Enjoy!
Serenity’s Favorite Toys
1.) Legos: This year I could actually ask Serenity herself about her favorite things, and her favorite toy was her legos. We definitely spend a lot of time on “Lego Time.” She loves to build paths, towers, cars, a robot, Benny’s Balloon (with a tan lego for sticky tape) and recently caves for her bear. Daddy builds huge pyramids, and I’ve often built stairs to Rapunzel’s Tower or for the beanstalk. We made lego ducks one day, and she asked for a Mama Duck, a Daddy Duck, a Serenity Duck, and a Papa duck. I ordered a bunch more legos from ebay because at one point in the year, Serenity wanted everything that we built to use just one color lego, which was very limiting! So we have a nice assortment of Lego Duplos.
2.) Sticky Tape: This is a direct result of the Dora addiction she had in the middle of the year. In one episode Dora uses sticky tape to fix all sorts of different things, and Serenity evidently took it to heart. She has gone through roll after roll of tape, fixing things like bumps on the walls, holes in the chair, covering up screws in the wall, just about anyplace that she can reach has had sticky tape on it at some point in the year.
3.) Tea Set(s): Serenity started the year with a Tinkerbell tea set, and for Christmas got a princess tea set as well! So now we have tea parties upstairs and downstairs. She loves to share tea with Mama, and sometime I even make real tea and cookies for the parties.
4.) Play Garden: Serenity loves to garden! Nearly every day she brings me something she grew in her garden, like the pretty flowers or strawberries for a nice treat. We use the fruits and veggies to feed her animals, and to feed each other. She tells me that we are garden fairies like Rosetta =)
5.) Scarves: The rainbow scarves I made for her have gotten even more use this year. She loves to use them as covers and put her stuffed animals to bed using a matching scarf blanket. We use them as capes, and for fancy tablecloths for our tea party. We’ve made them into ponds, dresses, and so many other things!
6.) Play-Doh: We love our play-doh! At the beginning of the year we mostly made stuff for her, and she would play pretend with whatever it was. One of her favorite games was when Daddy made her a penguin with a pillow and a blanket (in matching colors of course) Later in the year I got a set of letter cutters for play-doh, and we made words and then we would make whatever she spelled. She used this to teach her piggy the letters. I was so excited that she was playing school, that was one of my favorite games growing up!
7.) Book Club (inside and outside): When we moved Serenity to her new room, I set up the book club tent I had made for her second birthday up in her room. Before then it had only been up for a couple weeks at a time, but now it gets played with so often it’s up all the time. She loves to jump off of it, listen to bedtime books inside it, and she uses the pencils and the book that makes the roof for all kinds of games! We also have a book club outside, which was a special game Daddy started with the playhouse outside. They would think of problems, and as super readers they would solve the problem! When they figured out the answer, they’d come inside and spell it for Mama!
8.) Super Readers: Serenity has stuffed dolls of all four of the Super Readers. She plays all sorts of games with them, especially bridge with Daddy which we’ll discuss more later. =)
9.) Play Clothes: I’m so excited that we actually play dress-up! I have a ton of pictures of this so it’ll get it’s own article, but it had to go on the favorite toy list too. =)
10.) Jewelry: Don gave her a jewelry box for her birthday, and Serenity loves wearing her jewelry, and giving it to other people as well. One day when Grandma was babysitting, I came home to find Serenity had put bows in Grandma’s hair, and necklaces that matched her outfit perfectly.
11.) Magnifying Glass and other Tools: Serenity loves to look through her magnifying glass to find stuff, although she holds it right to her eye so it probably doesn’t magnify anything. She uses her tools a lot too, so she can be “just like Papa” (who is a Tinker Fairy by the way) When we were building the shelves under the stairs, she would get out her tools and hammer away, or stick her screwdrivers into any hole she could find. Adorable =)
12.) Daisy : Daisy is the driver of Serenity’s little purple car. She only has the one car but we use it a lot =) At one point I made a little road on cardboard, and one day Serenity wanted to decorate it so we added a garden, a zoo, and a playground for Daisy to drive around and play with.
13.) Tyrone: Tyrone is new but he gets a mention because she is SO excited by him. When Grandma bought him at the bookstore, she had carried him all over the store, hugging him constantly and giggling with him. He goes everywhere with her now, even all the way to California!
14.) Play Kitchen: Serenity especially loves making pies in her kitchen =)
15.) Doll House: We’ve collected so many cute little pieces of furniture and figures for this dollhouse that Ann got her. She loves to put them all to bed, and she has a stroller that she uses a lot too!