Turn It Down

My niece's birthday is coming up, and as Tim looked over the wish list, he read off a gift DJ got for his first birthday, saying, "she doesn't want that." I knew exactly what he meant. It's a gift DJ loves, an Elmo See 'n Say, and can play with for hours, it seems. Our objection is that it's a really loud toy.

We understood, going into this whole parenting thing, that he'd get noisy toys, or want to play the same song over and over. But what surprised us is how loud many of his toys are.

A tool bench toy that he loves has two volume settings, but Tim and I both cringe at the lowest one. What were the toy manufacturers thinking? That they wanted him to be able to hear if he played with it during a Metallica concert?

The tool bench was one of his favorites at day care, though they wisely removed the batteries.

I can't wait until (a) the batteries run out on some of his toys and (b) he gets old enough for toys that don't make noise, such as coloring. Until then, I guess we'll have to get some Excedrin and ear plugs.