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baby geareducational toyssafetoddlerwooden toys
A toddler playing with a wooden block set on a living room rug.

Why we finally switched to holz kinderspielzeug (wooden toys)

It was a Tuesday. 6:14 AM. Leo was three, Maya was basically a blob, and I was holding a cold mug of coffee while wearing a stained Nirvana t-shirt I’ve owned since college. I was staring at our living room...

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A minimalist toddler room with a few wooden blocks and a very tired mom holding a giant coffee cup.

What I wish I knew about spielzeug fΓΌr kleinkinder back then

I was sitting dead center on the rug in our tiny apartment living room, wearing yoga pants that I’m pretty sure had crusty sweet potato purΓ©e smeared on the left thigh from three days prior, just staring blankly at a...

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Two toddlers playing with wooden shape sorters on a living room rug

Why Wooden Toys for a 1-Year-Old Might Actually Save Your Sanity

It's 5:42 am on a Tuesday, and I'm currently staring at a plastic farm animal that has been singing the same off-key rendition of 'Old MacDonald' for fourteen consecutive minutes. Maya has her tiny foot firmly planted on the cow...

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Baby reaching for wooden toys on a soft organic playmat on the floor

Ditching the Plastic Jumper for a Real Montessori Activity Space

I was sitting on my incredibly stained living room rug at 6:15 AM wearing yesterday’s maternity leggingsβ€”the ones with the hole in the left kneeβ€”clutching my third mug of desperately black coffee, while my firstborn, Leo, aggressively bounced in what...

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Two toddlers attempting to eat a wooden block while a tired dad watches

A Letter to Past Me About the Reality of Wooden Toys

Dear Tom of six months ago, You're currently standing in the nursery, aggressively arranging a set of aesthetically pleasing, neutral-toned blocks on a floating shelf. You're exhausted, operating on perhaps four cumulative hours of sleep, but you're deeply smug. You've...

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A tired dad holding a wooden baby rattle while looking at his laptop

Why I Was Completely Wrong About Rasseln FΓΌr Babys As A New Dad

It was Tuesday at roughly 4:12 PM, and my living room looked like a warehouse explosion at a brightly colored plastics factory. I was sitting on the rug holding a neon green plastic hippo. I shook it. It emitted a...

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Toddler playing with Kianao wooden building blocks on a rug

The truth about Holzspielzeug 2 JΓ€hrige and surviving toddlerhood

Listen. It was Tuesday at three in the morning when my foot found the plastic farm animal. I was shuffling toward the kitchen to get water, sleep-deprived and freezing in the middle of a Chicago winter, and my heel came...

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Maya screaming in a stroller while I hold a dropped buggy spielzeug and a spilled coffee

The Buggy Spielzeug Survival Guide (Because I Almost Lost It)

I was sweating through a grey Zara sweater that honestly already smelled like old milk, standing outside a bakery on a Tuesday in April. It was raining, naturally. Maya was ten months old and doing that back-arching scream that makes...

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A simple wooden stacking rainbow and block set scattered on a living room rug.

The Day We Banned Plastic: Why Wooden Toys For Age Two Actually Work

I was sitting on my living room rug at six in the morning on a Tuesday, armed with a tiny eyeglasses screwdriver, aggressively trying to extract a corroded AA battery from a plastic fire engine. This particular toy had been...

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