Birthday gifts, age two

Frida will be turning two tomorrow! It feels very strange. On the one hand, I can’t quite believe that I’ve been a mother for two whole years already. Two! It doesn’t feel very long ago at all that we first met Frida and instantly fell head-over-heels in love with her. On the other hand, she seems at times so much older than she is, so much so that it feels bizarre that she isn’t already two.

I have really enjoyed selecting gifts for Frida this year, choosing things she will (I hope) love and want to play with again and again.

Frida’s biggest focus at the moment is on imaginative play. She plays for hours with her animals and people and Grimms toys, quietly narrating to herself as she plays. Following her lead, therefore, I’ve chosen toys for imaginative play over anything else.

For her birthday we have bought her:

• Grimms Bauhaus mobile home (available here) – Frida loves setting up pretend homes for her figures and animals, so this was a natural choice to extend her play. It’s unbelievably lovely in real life. We love Grimms toys – the play possibilities are endless.
• Grimms dolls house crib and toilet (available here) – I thought these would complement the mobile home furniture well. Frida is very interested in toilets at the moment! Also pictured is a Grimms bed which my sister in law bought for her, I thought it made sense to present these together to her.
• Grimms doll and baby (available here) – Frida has some figures already, but they were very cheap and it shows. The quality of these is superb and I know she will love playing with them.
• Pink playsilk (available here) – as a carpet / backdrop for the mobile home.
• Home by Carson Ellis (available here) – a beautiful book which I am sure she will enjoy reading.

• Holztiger bunnies and frog (available here) – Frida especially enjoys rabbits at the moment following the Beatrix Potter books, so I thought she would enjoy a couple more. She doesn’t have a frog and I think she’ll like it. She has a lot of Holztiger animals already and they are played with multiple times a day.
• Wooden Gruffalo toy (available here) – this was the only gift Frida asked for, after seeing a drawing of a child in a book holding a toy Gruffalo. I’m not a big fan of “character” toys, but she repeatedly told me she would like one, and this figure is ethically made from natural materials.
• Grimms wave stacker (available here) – Frida has a cave stacker which she uses a lot for imaginative play, and I thought this would be a nice addition for sea scenes.

I will share some photos of our celebrations over the coming days soon. For now, wish me luck as I try to compose myself ahead of tomorrow…