Adrift In A Sea Of Plastic Toys

Years ago, I remember reading an interview with Rachel Weisz, who had recently given birth to her son, Henry. She explained that before Henry arrived, she had been determined that the house would not become overrun with plastic toys. "And now here we sit", she said, "adrift in a sea of plastic toys".

Uh uh, I thought. When I have a child, I will not give in to the plastic onslaught! There is no need for children to have brightly coloured plastic toys with flashing lights and tinkling noises! They should have nice wooden toys that will teach them to use their imaginations!

Fast forward several years, and Andre and I are now the very proud parents of an adorable baby girl. Here's how our living room is looking post-baba.

White shell chandelier:

Pottery vessels carefully arranged on open shelving:

Dining area with cream silk cushions and handmade art:

Vintage cabinet filled with heirloom linens:

Duck-egg blue cushions (and terracotta-and-white Jack Russell) to co-ordinate with the slightly lighter duck-egg blue walls:

And what's this vision of delight? Ladies and gentlemen, please make the acquaintance of the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo:

Oh yes. We may not be adrift in a sea of plastic toys (they all get packed away at the end of the day once little one has gone to bed), but there is no packing away of a Jumperoo that takes up basically the same amount of space as the dining room table. It's hideous. And plastic. But Eva loves it, and spends whole minutes at a time! bouncing happily away in it.

Sometimes I think about making a nice fabric cover in the same material as the cushions that can be dropped over the main seat and activity centre bit at the end of the day, but then I remember I'd rather use my free time to, you know, sleep.

So yeah, I'm definitely a member of the 'give 'em a saucepan and a wooden spoon' school of baby entertainment, but what can I say, sometimes a huge plastic virulently coloured bouncing machine really hits the spot. Even if it doesn't co-ordinate with the chandelier...