The Bag Lady

It's the gift-giving season again and as always, I am totally out of my depth.

I find the annual deluge of toys overwhelming. Just as well my husband takes over, consulting with his mother on the who, the what and the how many.

But then Kay asked me to come up with favorite toys in our house for an upcoming post and that made me think. Am I such a distracted mother that I can't come up with any?

Hmmmm. The handcrafted dollhouse Grandma gave last year looks lovely in our living room, but the girls haven't really played with it a lot recently. As for building blocks, they're great for playdates when other kids come around, but not a big favorite for solo play.

In fact, the stuff they pick up again and again tend not to be toys. They gravitate to art supplies - crayons, markers, construction paper, glue. Every wall in the house now has a piece of "artwork" on it, carefully taped up by little fingers, somewhere around an adult's hip level.

Shoe boxes are another favorite. You can store anything in them! And never see it again! (So that's where those missing socks went...)

Then there's the thing with the bags. Maya, 3, is especially enamored of anything with a pouch and a handle or two.

Clutch, shoulder bag, zippered, buttoned or snapped, she loves them all. Sometimes, there are multiple bags draped on her person. Top that with a snazzy hat (or two) and she's swanning around, a veritable fashion plate.

It doesn't even have to be a bag to be a bag, if you know what I mean. The other day she filled her stripey wool hat with crayons and fridge magnets and called it her "Goody bag," imperiously dispensing "goodies" to the rest of us.

What's your little one's favorite plaything?