ExAstris GOOD for you! 
Babies and children, need much, much less than many parents are led to believe. And what they do need, is easily provided by loving parents, such as: time, talking, reading, play, cuddles, and experiences.
The trouble with relatives and gifts, is that, to them, there is no concept of 'enough' and they always think that the children are budding Einsteins!
It's so easy to look back, and think that compared with the excess today, we were deprived! In the context of the time, we weren't.
It was interesting hearing about your older DS and play. As a teacher, I found that children's attention span, generally, was very poor. As we are finding with kondoing, clutter is not just physical: our minds and the ability to focus on other important aspects of life, are disrupted by too much Stuff.
I recently heard a programme about how I-readers are altering the way authors are having to write (in order to sell). Apparently, there is less 'deep' reading being done, because people who do read are doing it in very short spells. So, books have to be very fast moving and dramatic, because attention is waning. Not good, I think, for people who need to read 'deeply' and understand fully what they are reading. 