The Toys Miles Loves the Most (9 Month Update)

Miles’ outfit – same print here (c/o) | Miles’ bandana

It’s been a few months since I have done a Miles update, so I thought I would share info on all his favorite toys as well as his current schedule. I bought many of these toys a few months ago but it is only recently that Miles has really begun to engage with them. Around 8 months, he began pulling himself up to standing so I immediately purchased a few of them after that because he has been itching to walk! Eek! We keep all of his toys in the sun room which we have gated off (this is the gate I purchased) so the area is all his. It helps him have some freedom to roam around and play, and since there is no furniture or anything else in the space, we can do things in the kitchen and watch him while he plays by himself. Here are his favorite toys to play with and the ones he spends the most time interacting with during the day:

1. Turtle sandbox – Stan bought this with the hopes of actually making a sandbox in the backyard for Miles that he could play in. But he is still too young for that so I improvised and filled it with plastic balls to make a ball pit. He crawls in and out of this all day long.

2. Plastic balls – I first purchased these for his blow up pool to make it more fun and it was my best decision yet! He adores these things and throws them all around.

3. Learning table – When he started pulling himself up to standing, I knew a table like this would be perfect so he could work on his balance while standing and interacting with all the different gadgets on the table.

4. Walker – Hands down, best toy of the bunch! Miles is on the go, go, go! As soon as Stan put this together, Miles pulled himself up and began pushing it across the room. He squealed with delight and still does. It can be made into a sitting toy or locked so he can play with it kneeling on the ground, but his favorite way to engage with it is by pushing it. It makes noise and has so many buttons which he plays with when he gets tired of walking.

5. Inflatable pool – I grabbed this on a random Target run when he was 6 months old and we were going to put it out in the backyard as a pool for him. But he is so mobile and always moving around that I thought he would get more use out of it inside. And boy does he ever. Since it is all inflated, it cushions him whenever he tries to stand up or crawl in and out of it. But being the rambunctious dude he is, he actually pushed the canopy onto the ground and now rolls around in that. He ended up putting a hole in it so we are currently trying to find the hole and patch it up. LOL

6. Bean bag chair – Once Miles began pulling himself up onto things, I thought a bean bag chair would be great for him to crawl around and fall into without hurting himself. And it has been perfect! We removed almost half of the beans to make it very squishy and easier for him to lean into, but the funniest thing about this is when he isn’t using it, my mom, Stan or I normally sit on it when we watch him play. It’s been a big hit with the whole family! 🙂

7. Bathtime toys – We give Miles a bath every night (this is the tub we use) and these are the toys he loves to play with. Normally he just chews on them for a bit and plays with them in the water.

8. Steering wheel toy – This toy has been around since he was a few months old and it was what encouraged him to crawl. For some reason, he loves it and would always move towards the noise and sounds it makes. He still loves to play with it every day!

9. Peek & play book – He has had this book since he was a newborn and still loves to chew on it all the time. Now he can turn the pages and play with all the animals inside which keeps him entertained much more.

A few honorable mention items that he plays with from time to time, but I think they will be better for when he is a bit older – this sports center, this dump truck and this bucket of blocks.

My last post about his schedule was when he was a itty bitty infant, so it’s definitely time for an updated run down of his daily routine. Some days we may deviate from this because of appointments or taking him places, but for the most part we try to keep him on this routine. We have found that he loves a routine since he was a newborn and always responded well to keeping things regular most days. Here is what a typical day looks like for him now: