After Lainey had her first birthday party a few weeks ago, I began feeling smothered. The kid is lucky enough to be blessed with numerous friends and tons of loving family who want to shower her with gifts and in a short time, I find we are living in a scale model of a Chuck E Cheese playhouse. My living room reminds me of the scattered toy aisles at a Walmart.
Before the first birthday bash we had a pretty handsome assortment of toys, but after this party we now officially give Toys R Us a run for their money. In our possession as of now are 32 baby books, 17 stuffed animals, five baby dolls, three elmos and a single cookie monster to keep them company, three whirling and buzzing baby walker thingamajigs, two inflatable baby walker thingamabobs, two whistles, a drum and a set of drum sticks, a set of sound emitting kitchen magnets and easily three dozen other random assorted goodies that Lainey can slam, throw, chew on and scatter all around the house.
Today was the last straw. Last week we came down with Strep Throat and I have basically been quarantined in the house for a week strait. I can’t take the clutter and mess of a gazillion baby clinkity clanks littering the house any longer.
So I crawled up to the attic and dug out an empty plastic container, labeled it BABY CRAP appropriately and began stuffing it full of toys. I also lugged the three whirling and buzzing baby walker thingamajigs upstairs too. Lainey is walking on her own now, I think we can spare my sanity and put these things away.
And now comes Christmas. More toys. Yay…
But what is the point of all this excess? Lainey already has so much and I am really growing tired of all the junk. I am running out of room in the attic for all the baby stuff I continually accumulate too.Its time to make a change.
So I have decided to be a little proactive this holiday season. In lieu of excessive gift giving this year, I am setting up a 529 College Savings plan for Lainey. These plans are great. They basically work as a targeted index fund, automatically scaling back the fund’s exposure to the market as Lainey’s target date for entering college approaches with the added bonus of being tax sheltered.
At the rate college tuition continues to rise year after year, it might be an opportunity only the mega rich or heavily indebted get to enjoy by the time Lainey is grown. Lets give her a head start and maybe teach her some good saving habits as she gets older too.
If any of you care to contribute, get with Sara or I and I’ll get you the info. And please take the hint, no more baby toys! They are only inevitably going to end up in a daft attic in some sealed off container labeled BABY JUNK!
September 10th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
can i ask where you got the inflatable walkers?