How much would you pay for a free toy?

I have a confession.

A few days ago I ordered a toy from ebay.

It was a McDonald's Happy Meal Toy. And although the picture to the left shows many of these nefarious toys, I only bought one.

It cost me almost $7.00 with the shipping.

I can hear you now -"Why, oh why would you pay for a piece of crap toy that they give away for FREE?!"

It would have been cheaper to just buy the kid a Happy Meal.

Except that I did buy the Happy Meal and they didn't have this toy anymore. This toy, which another child brought to school for show and tell and wowed all the children with its amazing ability to LIGHT.  UP. ITS. NOSE.

Do I feel stupid for paying seven bucks for a free goddamn toy? You bet.

But I am also really glad that there are people who collect these stupid things (MINT Condition! New in Bag!) and sell them to schmucks like me who will say anything, Anything to get their kid to stop crying on the way home from the McDonald's drive-thru. Including:

"You know honey, you can get almost anything on ebay. We can go home and look to see if anyone has it for sale."

Look, in the car, with the crying, (Oh god, the crying!), it seemed like a good idea.

But you know what's an even better idea?

Collecting these stupid toys and selling them on ebay myself!

I choose you!

I got a toy for Christmas.

Not a grown-up toy - a kid toy.

And I'm not afraid to admit that I love it.

Pokemon Electronic Plush: Pikachu

Daniel reacted a little strangely when I opened it. He eyed me from the other side of the room and smiled but didn't want to play with it. I thought maybe a talking Pikachu that moved it's mouth and ears creeped him out. And then I thought I detected a hint of jealousy.

Finally Daniel came over to me and turned off the toy. When I asked him why he proclaimed:

"Because I  don't want my mom to love a toy more than she loves me!"

Hmm. It's true I was enjoying it's little "pika pika choooo" way more than any sane adult should. But loving it more than him? Well, I wouldn't say that.

Later on in the evening Daniel gave me a sly smile and turned Pikachu back on. He played with him for a while and ended up putting Pikachu to bed in his room. Not in his bed, mind you, (Pikachu is too furry for him to share his bed with), but in his room all the same.

This toy says variations on "pikachu" when you squeeze it's paws, and when you leave it alone for a moment it will say other things and call for attention. Unfortunately Daniel is too anxious about the batteries wearing out to leave it on for more than a few minutes at a time.

This morning before breakfast he was reading to Pikachu on the couch. Subject matter: something out of "The New Way Things Work", circuitry or motors perhaps?

It looks like this toy will be a favorite for both of us for quite a while. I love the little voice and it isn't very loud either. Daniel likes that it does just enough to help him pretend that it is a "real" Pikachu.

Pikachu - We choose you!

Like beating your head against a wall

I swore I wasn't going to do it this holiday season, but last night I drove around Northern NJ going to multiple big-box stores looking for the items on Daniel's wish list.

I have one of the things he asked for - the most expensive item. But the other two are simply not available. Nintendo DS Lite? Ain't gonna happen. They don't have it anywhere. Cyber-mega-trap-a-tron Transformer? They don't even make it anymore. And the last one on ebay sold for $60.

So... I guess one out of three ain't bad. And who said I have to fulfill his every wish on Christmas? I'm pretty sure he'll forget about the other stuff when he's actually opening presents. At least I hope so.

The nice part about driving from store to store for hours looking for items that don't exist, is that the new car has a much nicer stereo system than the old car. So I was driving down route 46 singing at the top of my lungs. I haven't been able to do that for a long, long time. Man, it felt good.

Photo by ChicagoEye.

Oh-oh-oh, it's magic!

Daniel just received this magic set made by Melissa and Doug. Honestly, I really wasn't expecting much from this set. First of all, I thought that an all-wood magic set was a little weird, AND we have been burned by magic sets in the past - magic tricks that are too complicated, have no directions to speak of, sleight-of-hand tricks that can only be done with an adult-sized hand. Our forays into the world of magic are often frustrating.

But Daniel has persisted. And he has been asking me for this set for months. Finally, I gave in and went down to Just Kidding Around, a local toy store in Montclair, to buy it.

Wow! That was easily the best $30 I have ever spent on magic paraphernalia. I wish we had found this magic set before we wasted all that money on all of those other magic sets. The age on the box is eight and up, but Daniel can easily perform the tricks included after I read the instructions to him and demonstrate it to him once.

I think the biggest difference between this set and the others we've purchased is that the tricks do not rely solely on sleight-of-hand. There is a magic pouch which makes a scarf (or anything else) disappear, because it has a hidden compartment, likewise with a coin-adding trick and a coin-disappearing trick. The box that the set is packaged in actually folds up to become a prop  box/performance table on which to perform the tricks.

I have always liked Melissa and Doug products in the past, but frankly, I was blown away by the professional quality of this toy. Awesome!

A tale of two toy stores

I like toys. Not the "as advertised on TV" toys, but the kind that encourage kids to use their imagination. Many of the toys marketed as "Montessori" or "Waldorf", really fit that bill. Not that I'm endorsing either of those styles of education (that's a different post), just the toys they provide.

About a half an hour north of Montclair is a Waldorf toy store called Nova Natural (they also have an on-line store). It is a tiny store close to a food co-op and right down the street from a large Waldorf school. It is filled with toys made from natural materials, like silk, wood and wool. Many of the items are European and appear simple compared to the toys you see on TV. The carved wooden figures of animals and people are lovely, and the all natural art materials are quite inviting. They also have a wonderful line of large-scale wooden trucks that are quite intricate.

We have several items from this store, and Daniel always enjoys a visit to the "wooden toy store". The problem for me is that the prices are very high. Several years ago he wanted one of those wooden trucks, but when I saw the price tag of $109, I nearly had a heart-attack. It was just one truck! An heirloom perhaps, but the child would have to use the thing as transportation to college to justify that price tag! So we walked out of the store with me explaining that I simply didn't have the money for it and that we would have to talk about whether we could get it at some future date. And then I drove home and called the grandma and asked if she could send money for Christmas for Daniel.

He has the truck. It has been named, (Grandma, appropriately enough) and has a place of honor in our living room. Daniel has consistently played with it since it came through our door 3 years ago. Thank God. It's one thing to buy your child a small selection of very nice toys - it's quite another if the child has no interest in those "nice" toys.

There is another toy store that I like and order many gifts from: Kid Surplus. This one is on-line only and based in Vermont, which means that if they aren't too busy, a person in Montclair can receive their order in 2 or 3 days. Kid Surplus has great European toys as well as the nice US made toys. The really great part? It's all discounted! And they have clothes too, and shoes, and books! If you don't live near a nice toy store, Kid Surplus is a great resource.

So what are you waiting for? Get shopping!

Get on the floor and play

I want to start out by saying that I adore Playmobil. All the tiny pieces, all the different scenes. I even like putting it together, as long as I'm not supposed to be doing other things as well, like making dinner, or doing laundry or any of that other mom stuff. In my head I enjoy playing with it too.

But it's just not true.

I like making scenes with Playmobil. I like posing the knights, or building a racetrack for the cars, or setting up the flower shop so it's ready for business. I DO NOT like to make the little people talk, or fight battles with the knights, or act out the transactions at the flower shop. As much as I love toys, I have forgotten how to play.

This would not be such a big deal, except that my son is an only child, and unless I want to be hosting play dates around the clock, (which I most decidedly do not), then I need to get on the floor and play. But I find myself stalling, and offering excuses for why I can't play with the tiny people right now, (but I promise I'll be there soon), all the while hoping he'll get distracted or just decide to play by himself. In fact I'm stalling right now.

It's hard to let my defenses down so I can play "pretend". Perhaps if I drank some wine first, it would be easier - hey! that's a great idea. Let me grab a glass, I'm going to go Play!

Parenting the evil genius

Yesterday Daniel was being a bit of a punk.

He decided that after he had used the toilet, he would see how much toilet paper he could fit in it. This is not the first time he has performed this “experiment”. We have definitive proof that you can fit a whole roll (unrolled, of course) of toilet paper in a toilet. You CAN NOT flush a whole roll down the toilet, however.

So, yesterday Daniel thought things were moving a little too slow around the house, and he thought he'd retest the toilet paper experiment. My husband caught him at it and said something to the effect of:

“If you flush all that toilet paper down the toilet I'm going to flush your Legos down next.” He got his point across.

Later, they wanted to go to Kmart, because apparently, it is the only store that

a.) my husband knows about, or

b.) he is willing to take Daniel to.

In any case they go to Kmart every single weekend. Once they are in Kmart, Daniel turns to my husband and says, “I will find something better than legos here, and you can buy it for me, and then you can go ahead and flush my Legos!” This statement was followed by evil genius laughter and

"Your CONSEQUENCES mean nothing to me.”

Little shit. Did I mention that we can't do sticker charts or any of the other usual behavior management techniques with him?

Photo by Meeshosaur.

Game day

Recently we bought a "family gift". Now in our house that means something expensive that would be too extravagant to just get for Daniel. In this case, it was the Nintendo DS Lite. 

For quite a while we have been a GameBoy Advance family. So much so that we each have our own GBA. Admittedly, there was never much of a selection of games for me, but Daniel and my husband are big fans of all things Mario.

The DS Lite, however, is a whole different ballgame. I'm the one who plays it the most! It's all about the games, and I have to say that I love the little touch screen! For some silly reason I really like the games Animal Crossing, and Trace Memory, as well as Brain Age.

I think this is the first time that I have more games than the boys and I have to tell you, it's fun to have a game to play while I'm waiting for Daniel at the OT or psychologist.

Very cool toy

As a former preschool teacher, ex-toy store employee and all around toy nut, I think this toy rules! Cuboro is made in Switzerland and is an exceptional toy even by European standards. What it is basically, is a marble-run, but it is like no marble-run you've ever seen before. We also have the Haba marble-run (or Ball Track), which we also like, but when you play with Cuboro you can actually feel your brain working.

As you can see from the picture each piece is a block, and most of the blocks have an interior track for the marble as well as a track on the top and the bottom of the block. You can make a very simple marble-run by just using the tracks on the tops of the blocks OR you can build a very complex marble-run by building multiple levels and having the marble travel on the outside and the inside tracks on all the different levels. There are many different styles of blocks in each set and figuring out how to put them all together often becomes a family affair in our house.This is also a very tactile toy. While you are playing with it, you will find yourself exploring the curves and tunnels of each finely crafted wood block.

The price of Cuboro is indeed daunting, and I would certainly only recommend it for those families who have children who are REALLY into blocks and marble-runs. On the other-hand, this is a toy that is destined to become an heirloom. Sometimes we build primitive Rube Goldberg inventions by using the Haba marble-run and Cuboro and adding various toys and kitchen gadgets.

Both Cuboro and the Haba marble-run (they call it "Ball Tilt"), can be found online at The Construction Site, which is both a wonderful online store and a fantastic brick-and-mortar store in Waltham, MA.

Sensory Integration supplies

I thought I would write about some of the toys and other things that have helped us in dealing with Daniel's sensory integration issues. I know that when I first learned that many of his problems were a result of Sensory Integration Dysfunction, I immediately went online to see what I could find out, and to see if there was anything I could do to help him while we waited for all the evaluations to be processed. Unfortunately, there wasn't a ton of information at that time to help me.

So here are a few simple things that make a big difference in our everyday life.

Beanbag chair - Daniel curls up in it to feel the pressure on his body. (One of the therapists told us that Daniel can't "feel his body in the world" (proprioception). I know it sounds funny, but its as if he can't tell where his body begins and ends - pressure helps him to feel his skin.) He also flings himself into it and pushes his head into it.

Balance ball - These are exercise balls that you can get at Target or many other exercise stores. The smallest ones are suitable for kids, and Gaiam even had one with Scoobydoo on it for kids, although it looks like its been discontinued. This is good for core strength. Its fun to roll your body on it and to play catching games with it. But if you can get your kid to sit on it while they watch TV or listen to a book, they will develop important balancing skills and strengthen their muscles at the same time. Muscle strengthening  and balance are big issues for Daniel.

Sit and Spin - This is a simple toy that is great for the vestibular system. When Daniel uses it, it appears as if he is getting overstimulated, but when he stops he is much calmer. I really don't understand how that works, but he also gravitates towards those spinning rides at the playground too, (like the one in the picture), and will stay on long after most of us would feel sick to our stomachs.

This is just the beginning, I'll write about more toys and things later.

Photo by foreversouls.