best $2 ever spent on Nate

It seems to me that Nate doesn't have a lot of toys. I read some other moms' blogs, and their kids have a lot of toys. I can tell by the pictures they post of their organization. Nate got some hand-me-down toys from the lady who sold us his high chair, swing, and Baby Bjorn - a variety of rattles and linking toys. He has a lot of stuffed animals, but most are in the top of the closet. He got a few cool toys as shower gifts. And we've bought him four toys: a mirror, Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes, a squishy dolphin bath toy, and a $2 ball.

One day last week, when I picked Nate up from daycare, he was playing with a wiffle ball. His teacher said that it's his favorite ball. The next time we were at WalMart, I was picking up some new filters for his humidifier and waiting for Rodgers who ran to get the milk. I saw a box of Garanimals balls. They were kind of like the wiffle ball because they had holes in them:

I thought it was worth a shot. For $2, I'll try it out. I handed it to him, and he held on to it, swinging it around and pulling on it, for the rest of our shopping. He cried, heartbroken, when I took it away from him to be scanned so we could pay for it. Nate and the ball have been virtually inseparable this week.

He is stalks the ball whenever he catches sight of it.

my precious...

But he does more than just hold it...

His favorite thing is to bang it against the ground.

Eventually, it pops out of his hand.

And goes flying across the room. 

Which direction it flies is unpredictable. He looks around the room until he finds it, then he stalks it again.