Just wanted to let you know that my daughter has one of those dolls and it's Elmo. So I would say maybe a Toys R Us store? She also has an Elmo that sings his ABC's.

~Jennifer

Sue,

Lillian vernon doesn't have the doll, but has a set of books that I got for my DD.

Warning: They didn't launder well, which disappointed me (otherwise, what's the point of a drooling toddler with a cloth toy) LOL

Anyway, let me see if I can find a link to the set:

Here is a link that might be useful: Busy Books

Just thought you should know occupational therapist do not recommend those dressing dolls/toys b/c they don't actually teach your child how to do these things for themselves. It's very different buttoning your own shirts vs. facing a doll & buttoning theirs.

Squeak E. Mouse by early years is an award winning "learn to dress" toy. Zainy Brainy or Toys R Us. There are also puzzles with things like latches and shoe tying on them. Bought the Mouse recently for my will be 21 month old at Christmas, so I haven't used it yet. But Dr. Toy recommends it, and I've generally agreed with her in the past (though I like Oppenheim's ratings better).

Thanks for the info, Squeak E. Mouse sounds just what I'm looking for. The Dr. Toy and Oppenheim's sites are a big help, I'm sure I'll be using them lots. Thanks again!!! Sue

My daughter made our granddaughter a wonderful gift for her second birthday last week. Do you know how many photo developing companies will give doubles for free or a very small price? My daughter took pictures of all of our granddaughter's relatives and friends, laminated them and made a deck of cards out of them. You can use them for any 'paired' game - beginning with just simple matching and moving on to 'concentration', etc. It's also really nice to help young children remember relatives that they do not see very often. The photo cards were a great entertainer during a trip this week.

Toys to grow on
www.ttgo.com
they had a cute little bear with the snaps etc.
Also you can try montessori n such
www.montessori-n-such.com
They have some boards that are big and easy to work with. (Expensive though!)

As a side note, someone stated that these are not suggested for kids as a way to teach dressing skills. That may be so, I don't know, but my occupational therapist when I was a head special ed teacher used these types of activities. She said that it was great for eye and hand coordination, which is really what dressing ourselves is all about.

I took photos of family members that my son doesn't see very often and mounted them on slightly larger than 3 x 5 cards, punched a hole in them, laminated them, and stuck them on a ring. MY son has loved looking at the people and we can talk about each person.

We travel for three days coming and going to Louisiana two times a year. One of the BEST toys I have ever found for traveling was a magnadoodle. The bigger the better, but don't get all the gadgets that go with it (like the extra magnets etc). My 18 month old plays with it and so does my now three year old, but he's been playing with it for a year now. It is well loved and very durable.

The other thing that we have done for traveling is I gave my son a cookie sheet that had all four edges that fold up. He can color and the crayons will just roll to the bottom of the sheet if he drops them. We can tape a piece of paper (Or several) to the sheet and that works well. I also took pictures of family members and mounted them on a magnet sheet (sticker magnetic stuff that cost 8$ for a huge bunch at a photo store!) and he plays with them on his cookie sheet.

Hope this helps.