Wow, this takes a long time to update these lists so I hope somebody finds it useful.
Of course, because she is a kid, she enjoys playing with just about anything - including empty boxes and paper towel tubes. But I have suggested some things that I know, for certain, that she loves & enjoys.
I added several books to the list. Some of these we have borrowed from the library and she asks to read them again & again. Some of them she has at school and wants me to read them to her when I pick her up in the afternoon. Book-reading is a favorite thing around here. We can't really have too many books. And I have not bought very many lately, so her collection for her age is small. Most of her "baby" books that I bought I have donated to the Y to share with families who don't have books at home. I keep all of her books that are gifts and write on the inside cover who it is from.
There are a few movies that we don't have, but mostly because they are in the "Disney vault" and are not for sale. I am really only buying Blu-Ray with the DVD [to watch in the car/computer] and it's nice if it includes a digital copy because I see that as a huge benefit in the future when we own some kind of IPad device. I think the Movies I Own list is fairly accurate, so if you think of something and don't see it on either list, we probably don't have it and I haven't thought to buy it either.
I tried to label the Toys list so that it is organized by subject. Zoe really likes her wooden rail set and it could use some expansion track. We have the Imaginarium brand, but they are all supposed to work together. She only has one Thomas train car - it's Horace, I think, and she would love to have Thomas or Percy. Don't get the plastic ones, and I'm not sure about the "electronic" train cars. She would also love to have any of the buildings - there is a water tower, and a shaky bridge, and some train station type things.
She really likes dinosaurs and we play this game where she brings me a dinosaur encyclopedia book and then we match our dinosaurs to the pictures in the encyclopedia and learn their names. Animal Planet has a bucket of dinosaurs that looks good. There is a picture of a little girl who has her wooden train set on a dinosaur mat with palm trees and stuff - and that looks like super fun! We don't need any more of the tiny, "mini" sized dinosaurs. They don't stand up and are just not that much fun.
We have a few cans of Play-Doh that are getting very muddled and dry. Please no clay - it stains the furniture and does not come out of the carpet. We have the Play-Doh Cake Making Station.
We were at Burlington Coat Factory and Zoe saw a pink, plastic castle that she was mesmerized by. I did not want to buy it so I told her that we should start thinking about what she would like for a birthday present. She decided that that particular castle was her birthday present. I still don't want to buy it because it's kind of a big, plastic-y thing and I think we can do better. The Melissa & Doug castle looks pretty nice because it is wooden and it sort of folds in half when you want to put it away. It is a little spendy though. It is important that it is pink and looks like a proper princess castle. They also have a medieval castle that is not as pretty. If you find a nice pink castle somewhere that looks better than the M&D let me know.
We play with the Calico Critters house from Nana Jo and the little animals quite a bit. She has a few families and lots of furniture - another little house or cottage would be a good addition to the set.
Puzzles are always good. I really like the Ravensberger brand. They are sturdy and easy to put together and the images are great. We have the barnyard from Uncle Doug and I got her a unicorn puzzle, and she has an ocean/reef one too.
The moon/stars/solar system lights for her room is something I definitely want to get. Zoe has developed a fear of the dark/fear of going to bed on-time, and she has always liked space and the planets and looking at the moon. I saw the Mr Milton Moon at a store and it is way more awesome than it looks online. I have never seen the rainbow before, but I bet it is also super cool. I was thinking that we might paint her ceiling to look like a sky.
