i would love to say that otto is a minimalist baby and is perfectly content with a carefully selected few heirloom wooden block toys. he’s not. he’s like his mother. he is constantly moving from one thing to another and loves to explore and touch different textures with his hands and mouth. he is drawn to toys that have tiny bits that he can manipulate with his hands especially his thumbs. it’s so funny that the first thing otto tries to do with each toy is flip it with his thumb. with all these toys though comes your house looking like it’s been totally taken over with..well toys.
in an effort to find what otto loves to play with our house has become a hodgepodge of neon rubber, plastic and wood toy explosion. i’ve had conversations before with my fellow mom friends about the design of toys. i get they need to be educational and they need to be aesthetically pleasing to a baby but can we have a little element of design? when Evenflo reached out to me about their new Gleeful Sea Exersaucer i got excited. it actually looked cute and didn’t stick out like a sore thumb in my home.
it’s a 2 in 1 baby entertainment center that transitions from exersaucer seat to a standing table. it is mostly white with a cute subtle minty blue and green sea theme. otto is in the transition phase where he likes to stand but needs support so it’s fun to have him hold on to the side of the table and reach for toys on the platform. however when mama needs to get stuff done it easily pops back down in to a seat and contains the wild man.
my favorite part (other than the design of it) is the variety of activities on the exersaucer. ottos favorite part is the mirror that he can flip around and it is hilarious when the mirror flips back and he almost seems surprised each time he sees himself. he also loves to move the little abacus style beads along the wire.
we brought the Gleeful Sea exersaucer to our pentwater cottage because we don’t have a lot of room for toys there. we’ve had to be very intentional with what we bring in to the cottage because it is less than 900 square feet. the Gleeful Sea toy is a perfect addition to a lakeside cottage. when we are on our way out to eat or heading to our friends condo we take some of the toys from the table top with us for on the go. we went with a vintage nautical design in the home so the toy blends in with the rest of the decor and is light enough to move from room to room (well there is only two rooms because it’s so small) but it doesn’t take up a ton of space.
i am very quickly finding out how fast kids grow and outgrow toys. it’s nice to have a piece that transitions with them for a few years. we’ve tried a few exersaucers and bouncy seats but so far this has been the most versitile and according to otto, one of the most exciting ones he’s tried so far.
to purchase the Gleeful Sea Exersaucer click here.
Thank you to Evenflo for kindly sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% honest & completely my own.
There was no such toy when my first 4 sons were babies, but my twin boys (born 30 years after their oldest brother, I started early and finished late ) loved their exersaucers and what a life saver for me!