Why do manufacturers put so much effort into designing baby toys? I wonder this every time little L plops down (in her Bumbo or on the floor) to play, since the only parts of her squishy blocks and caterpillars and whale puppets and other stuffed items she cares about are the tags.

Yes, the tags—those little rectangular pieces of fabric that say stuff such as, “Wash with like colors” and “Do not ingest.” These are my daughter’s favorite forms of entertainment.

Believe me, I’ve tried to convince her otherwise. We play endlessly with her Lamaze block set, and all the kid wants to do is eat the tags that stick out of the biggest cube. On her stuffed stork, she’ll sometimes suck the beak, but most of the time just fiddles with the tags.

L seems to obsess over the tag on pretty much every toy that has one. She’ll even mess with tags on burp cloths, t-shirts and pants (provided she can find them).

Since most baby stuff comes with at least one tag, L’s fondness for these toy extremities makes our lives pretty easy. Now the only questions are how long these tags will keep her little (but growing) mind occupied, and when she’ll start demanding tags with logos from Yves Saint Laurent and Facconable.