My daughter is 14 months and we just bought her a Etch-a-sketch..she loves it!
Also friend got me a box from Cambodia (but i am sure you could get one here) that has a lid and is full of letters so she just pulls them all out and puts them back in along with anything else that fits..lol (the thongs she tried were a little big). It has the added bonus of when she shows us a letter we can tell her what it is..i.e Oh that's a G for Grandma etc...never too young to start them on letters!
I think they are at the funny stage where all the toys are either for babies or for toddlers...