Sophie The Giraffe

When we first had Tai, I really wanted to get him a couple of things that were just from US. I feel like when you are a new parent with not a lot of money, you feel like your child is missing out on all the nicer things. This might not be necessarily true, and we had a lot of help from people who gave us amazing stuff. However, I think that it is SO important to get your child a few things that you just love-even if they aren't necessities. 

For us, this was a Tapout sweatsuit ($30.00 for a baby outift? Yikes!) and Sofie the Giraffe (About 22.00 at baby stores.) These were definitely WAY more than I would ever pay for an outfit (even for myself) or for a toy-but it made me happy to have a couple special "things" that we could give him. And okay. I'm still cheap and used coupons and discounts off of those prices, haha.

I was first introduced to Sophie when my cousin's baby Olive was playing with this handheld teether-and loving it. It was the weirdest feeling rubber ever-and no adult could keep their hands off of it-I knew we had to get Tai one.

When we went to buy her (at BUY BUY Baby) there were all sorts of Sophie toys, all overpriced. They were floor to ceiling-for the bath, sleep and crib, you name it.There was even a blanket gift set that was like 130 bucks or something-Colton said "that blanket better be made of gold." I mean $22 bucks for a rubber toy? Dog toy's are like $2. No my child is not a dog, i'm just saying.

They also had non-Sophie toys made out of the same stuff from the same company for the unique parent-like this super creepy mushroom thing:

(They call it a Chan Pie Gnon?-Like I said, not English. It is advertised on the box as "We are the Chan Pie Gnon's." Totally creepy.)

Anyways, Sophie the Giraffe, if you haven't heard of her, is like this giant  rubber, basically-a-dog-toy, OBNOXIOUSLY squeeky giraffe. "The Worlds Best Teething Toy. She (you have to call her SHE) is made of some unique material (aka rubber), I wouldn't know because all the information about her was in French. (That whole, "i'm big in Europe" thing=Sophie.)

She's one of those toy's all the celebrities have. (Pictured  is Nicole Richie-Madden, and her daughter Harlow. I only add this because I am completely obsessed with her husband Joel. Moving on.)

Anyways: In doing some research on Sophie tonight, out of pure boredom, I discovered: you can actually buy Sophie a LEASH. So if baby drops it, it doesn't get dirty. I mean, sure, the leash is weird and takes up half the Giraffe's body-but it's an option... I like options.

They also offer a giant creepy glowing Giraffe head. Ahem.

She also has a play house (yes, she now replaces Barbie dolls,) a learning cube, a discovery blanket..the overprices list goes on...and on. I shouldn't be talking though, I did buy one after all.

Pro's & Con's

Pros: I think babies like it because it's fairly large and has lots of legs/limbs/neck that they can manipulate and wrap their little hands around. The legs are long so they can use them to teeth in the back of their mouth. The rubber is really unique-you honestly want to put it in your mouth because it does feel cool-and you can understand why they love it so much. Also it advertised advantages are: BPA Free, non-toxic, hand-painted (uh?) and optional English translation. Yes, guys, this is an ADVANTAGE.

Cons: It get's dirty really easy-because it's made of rubber and the wetness+baby hands+dirt+NO adult can leave the damn thing alone because the rubber feels cool. Also, my child constantly smells like rubber.  Yummy. I've also heard babies gag themselves with the legs, Tai hasn't done that yet. I would also call the obnoxious squeeking a CON. When kids are gnawing and it is screeching over and over you want to throw  the thing. I can also promise you the man in your life will find a way to make the noise more annoying by shaking/flicking/obsessively smacking it.***UPDATE: Don't put Sophie in water, it's impossible to get out and she will sound like an dying animal before she completely stops making sounds all together. Maybe that's a Pro. I would say this is bad craftsmanship on their part as it gets so dirty you need to wash the thing.

Despite all of this, my 3 month old is obsessed. Sleeps with it at night obsessed.

Enjoy.