Today's first time parenting tip - Get a Chime Garden from Lamaze for your baby, our son loved it

Our son's first birthday gift arrived in the mail from his aunt and uncle down in Louisville, Kentucky. It's a great toy that I can't say enough good things about, but the biggest vote of confidence comes from my son himself. He hasn't stopped carrying it around the apartment.

The Chime Garden from Lamaze is a group of five flowers that play melodies when they're batted or pressed. The faces on the flowers are friendly and colorful. What sets this apart from other baby toys that make noise is that the sounds it makes are actually pleasing and at a reasonable volume level.

If I could sum it up in a word, it would be "sweet". The way it looks, sounds and feels is very child-like and cute. It seems to be pretty durable too, my son's already dropped it on the hard floor in our kitchen a dozen times and it's none the worse for wear.

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