Toy Review: Travel Toys

This post is going to be a toy review/travel advice hybrid - tips and tricks from my 2 flights with a 9 month old.

Lets start with the advice part first:

1. Nurse during take off and landing (or give a bottle or a paci.) This little item is a positive and negative. Lets start with the negative first shall we? The eminem wannabe next to me saw my boob at least 4 times - even though I took every precaution to stay cover. On the positive side it definitely helped his ears. Case in point, when we started our descent and he turned to me, made a funny face and grabbed his ears, I quickly got him situated and he nursed the pain away.

2. Fly during nap time. The nap timing worked well with tip 1 - Logan fell asleep while nursing for take off and sleep 30 - 45 minutes each flight without any hassle.

3. Have extra diapers and wipes. Logan definitely pooped mid-flight. Not fun. Messy but Cory handled it (thank goodness!)

4. Bring a variety of toys that are small, inexpensive (incase you lose them) and NEW (novelty is a big help here. Now, onto the toy reviews.

We bought a number of new toys for Logan to play with - none of which made enough noise to bother our fellow passengers. All of these were under 8 dollars!

First up: Viking Toys Little Chubbies

Logan thought these were OK. He liked when we made car noises (he can say vroom for car now!) but they only kept him occupied for a little while. I've decided to put them away and try them again when we go on our next trip. They are made for slightly older kids, so these may be a bigger hit later on.

Next up: Melissa & Doug Giraffe Grasping Toy

On the flight up, the grandpa sitting next to us thought it was such a cool toy! I loved twisting it and Logan loves teething on the giraffe head. Again, a cool toy but may get more interest as he gets older. I put this one away again too.

Also: Schylling Ambi Twin Rattle

LOVED this toy. A local toy store owner recommended it to me and I had my doubts but Logan was fascinated by it. It kept him occupied for 15 minutes the first time as he tried to figure out how they moved around.

Next: Tolo Squeaky Dog

The second favorite toy of the trip - Logan loved the squeaky action and the puppy face - he even learned to say "dog" during our trip. He kept Logan occupied during meals out too. This will be permanently in my diaper bag for sure! Cory also started putting the dog on logan's head and logan thought that was too funny!

Finally: Tolo First Friends Piglet

The runaway favorite of the trip. This piggy will be with me at all times. I am actually going to buy another one soon to have for back up. Whenever we brought out piggy, Logan instantly started laughing and smiling. He held him and teethed on this nose and ears and he loved to twist his head and hear the clicking noise. Also used in the toy-on-head game, I think I might buy him a dinosaur or other farm animals from this series for his birthday (which is only two weeks away!!)

So there you have it! Any good tips you can think of that I am missing? Any good toys to bring with us next time?