The sounds of silence

I never thought much about toys that require you to provide your own noises until our house became awash in baby toys.

Between swings that play a series of notes as repetitive as the piano song in Goonies to play mats that offers a plush butterfly requiring you press it's wings each 15 seconds in a Pavlovian cry for an 80's synthesizer beat -- we're hanging on by a thread musically in the Bender household.

And so despite not being a clock watcher, I've started the countdown until DUPLO can be safely played with by the baby (and me). I just need some slight improvement in my motor skills and I have to learn that toys are for playing, not eating. After that, we'll be good to go.

And the beauty of DUPLO is that I get to add the soundtrack for playing -- meaning everything from rocket ship noises to the theme from Bonanza. While the sounds we're listening to may not improve, at least they will be our own.