Toys Kate Digs (or, what to buy for a first birthday)

The Classics
* A bouncy ball. I got Kate a medium-sized purple bouncy ball (about the size of a basketball) from a drug store for a few bucks. She loves it! She spends time every day kicking and chasing it, playing catch, rolling it, etc. She has other balls, but none are as fun (or cheap!) as the traditional bouncy ball.
* A doll. She enjoys playing with the doll, carrying it around, cuddling it, and kissing its little face. I recommend a soft doll with embroidered facial features so they can't hurt themselves (or others, or the doll...) by throwing it around. My parents got one for Kate that's a good size (about 12") at Target or somewhere for about $10. The soft ones are hard to find, but worth the hunt.
* A red wagon. This is a big gift, but I think of it as a classic. Kate has a radio flyer discovery wagon and she LOVES riding in it (and pushing it inside.) It's absolutely huge: big enough for Kate to sit in in with her legs out and me to sit Indian style without touching each other. We could definitely haul 3-4 kids in there!

The Educational and the Imaginative
* a bead maze. I bought one similar to this at Target a few months ago, and Kate likes to sit and move the beads. It had three different wire loops and 7 or 8 beads per loop, which makes it interesting enough to use for at least another year. It's been neat to see her progress to moving them further and further along and through more complicated loops. She likes someone else to sit with her while she does it, but she certainly does get a lot of use out of it.
* haba dream journey. Kate just got this and it's already a hit! Haba is a German toy manufacturer that makes high quality wooden and fabric toys that are classy and classic. Anything you buy from them is going to be top notch quality, interesting to kids, and the sort of thing that people save for their grandkids. I am lusting over the nativity set currently.
* a playsilk. If you want to get a REALLY cool gift, get a playsilk! Kate loves her playsilk, she will walk around with it playing peekaboo, stroking it and rubbing her face against it (what can I say? The girl knows her fabrics) and hiding things under it. It's definitely in the top three most played with toys. She has a really pretty starflower from supersilks.com in orange, pink, purple and blue. It folds up way smaller than my fist, so it's great for stuffing in the diaper bag or purse for entertainment when out and about. I'm sure it'll get lots of use in the future as a superhero cape, a doll swaddler... Barb at supersilks is awesome (the pictures don't do her justice). She just had a really big sale so her in stock store is pretty empty, but just email her about a custom silk.

And when all else fails...
* books. No kid can have enough books. Kate loves them and is building her library aggressively.