Just Truckin'

I know it is almost Emmeline's birthday, but we could not resist buying her this wooden truck from IKEA on Saturday:

The little black piece that hangs off the back has a magnet that picks up the six blocks that were included.  At $12.99, not bad for a quality wood toy.

It is getting increasingly difficult to keep Emmeline entertained.  We try to rotate her toys so that every three or four days she has "new" things to play with, but she has been wise to this trick for some time now.  Like any curious baby (or cat) she wants to play with things that are not toys: plastic bags, cat toys, paper, boxes, junk mail, cords, cell phones, remotes, tubes of diaper cream, and so on.  I have tried the kitchen utensils, sauce pots, baby jars filled with things that jingle and rattle (thanks, Sarah Kim, for this idea), and different colors and textures of cloth.  We are having some better luck with the board books, as she will now look at them briefly before trying to eat them. But unfortunately most of these things only work for a few minutes, if even. So, if you have any great, cheap ideas on how to keep an increasingly curious and active baby entertained, please let me know!

Hey! Cool truck!

Oh neat!  It has a string, too!

Watch out! Rudy is eyeing the string!

OK, mom...what's next?!