Caleb-Tested Toy Awards

Thanks for joining us on this auspicious evening where we honor deserving toys with the highly-coveted CTTA prize. Not many toys can pass rigorous safety standards these days. Fewer pass the "frugal mom" qualification. Fewer even still can say they've engaged the attention of an active, exploring, limit-testing toddler for any length of time. Toys awarded with the highly-prized and highly-competitive CTTA will earn smiles from parents (at least 2 parents) and the loving care of toddler hands. (If you think these prizes are small for such a grandiose award, remember The Velveteen Rabbit. Dust is not the sign of a great toy.)

And the Caleb-Tested Toy Award for "holding the most interest in a single day" goes to...drum roll, please...a baking powder can filled with odds and ends. It started with a rock, an acorn, and a helicopter seed pod inside. As those things were lost to the far reaches of the backseat, they were replaced by water bottle caps, spoons, and other odds and ends. Caleb enjoyed taking the lid off and putting it on again, taking things out and putting them back in, and simply shaking the can like crazy. He also found other creative ways of playing. Just watch.

The Caleb-Tested Toy Award for "holding the most interest over an entire week" as well as the Award for the "most effective on narrow, winding, mountain roads when Mommy can NOT turn around and play with you for fear of sharing breakfast with you all over again" goes to... a Sesame Street button-pushing, switch-turning noisemaker thingy. By the end of the week, Caleb had a pretty good Cookie Monster impression going. He hasn't played with it much since being home, but he definitely got good use out of it throughout our vacation.