I look at these two babies and they just make me smile.  They look like they are almost about to get into trouble. Especially big brother! and it is funny because I could tickle them and make them smile, and sing songs and make faces but once I put the blocks in front of them, business got serious and it was all about building towers and they could not be distracted.  The higher the tower, the better the fun. There is something to be said about the simplicity of plain old fashion toys. In a world surrounded by smartphones, tablets and tv’s, it is really a joy to watch kiddos enjoy the old fashion pleasures of just plain toys. I have yet to find a child that is not mesmerized by my mini wooden xylophone. But even to a more basic level. The xylophone has a little whole in its front and in it, you place the stick you use to play the instrument.   It almost seems it is equally as fun to insert the stick in and out of the whole as it is to actually play the xylophone. Just the simple pleasure of putting things in and out. I may have told you this but when my son was 1.5 years old, he had, in my kitchen, a deep drawer at the very bottom, all filled with tons of plastic containers and lids. He would spend hours on end just pulling things out of it and throwing them on the floor and then putting them back in.  It was just such a joy to look at him so serious and working so hard.  Then things became a little bit more sophisticated and I bought him a small puzzle board with all kinds of locks, pulls and knobs to open secret wooden doors and he would spend tons of time just trying to figure out how to open each little door to find all the animals hidden behind the intricate pulls and latches. It was serious business.  I just think there is something magical in the way these babies find the simplest of things in life amazing…