Working Toys

We don't have a lot of room around here for toys so we only kept our favorite things and the rest went to storage, which means that to buy new ones, there must be a really good reason that we NEED them (ok, we don't NEED new toys at all, I'm just trying to justify buying a few fun, new things). Thus, the toys that I've purchased lately have not only been fun to play with, but have served dual purposes. Like this rocket night light. I bought it just before we moved so Creed wouldn't be spooked sleeping in his new room. This was just after our fire scare so I'm particularly fond of this night light, which doesn't get hot. It's like magic. It sits on a rubber base that's plugged in and somehow charges it and it has an LED bulb which should never need to be replaced. (I've seen a lot of other night lights like this lately and Pottery Barn Kids has new ones that are a little bit smaller and change color, but I can't find a link)

And these pop-beads by B. Pop Arty to help Creed with his small motor skills (did you have pop-beads when you were little? I loved them so much I couldn't resist buying a set for Creed to create his own snakes, aliens, dress-up jewelry and whatever else he thinks up)

And this fish, which I used to bribe Creed to take baths. When it touches water it glows and changes color.

Cool toys, but the best part is that they get Creed to look forward to once dreaded tasks like baths and going to bed. Definitely worth it in my book.

It's like Christmas around here

Creed has never had that many toys, but it seemed like a lot of what we had were hulking pieces of plastic and since many of them were hand-me-downs, they weren't working too well either.  Truthfully, I didn't think too much about it until our vacation to California.  Larry's mom had several bins of toys from when Larry was little. It was so neat to see Creed and Larry playing with the toys that Larry used to love.  When we got home I saw things with new eyes and realized that we owned practically no toys that would be worth holding onto for grandkids.  In fact, we didn't own a lot worth holding onto for Creed to play with.

After we talked about it a bit, we decided to use some of my PayPal money from Sycamore Street Press to buy Creed some heirloom quality toys (that we don't have to worry about poisoning our child and most were environmentally friendly too, and as an added bonus most of them are so pretty that it makes constantly picking them up or shuffling around them a little less troublesome).

A wooden front-end loader on clearance at Land of Nod

And a digger

This awesome modern dollhouse also on clearance from Land of Nod.  Creed is drawn to dollhouses at friends' homes, and I was happy to find one so gender neutral.  It was the biggest splurge but it is already worth it for the time Creed and his friends have spent with it.
This Charlie and Lola mini playset because we needed people to live in the house and the Plan Toys people are a little scary looking, plus Creed and I both heart Charlie and Lola (ok, I especially heart Charlie and Lola)
And last but not least, this parking garage made by Melissa and Doug.  I knew this would be a big hit because a store in our neighborhood has one in a little play-corner for kids and Creed always has to be torn away from it.  He loves to run cars down the ramp and move the elevator up and down.

Creed has been very busy since these toys arrived. I'd have a hard time saying which one he likes best.

Before the people arrived, Creed's cars lived it up in the house, watching the flatscreen TV, napping in the beds, raiding the fridge.

He wasn't as excited about sorting through his toys and deciding which ones to pass on, but I think he's decided the new toys are worth it (and I'd like to think our talks about how we're passing his toys on to other kids that don't have as many toys had an affect too, but who knows).

And now life is a little more beautiful around here.

Holiday Toys

My ideas about holiday decorating have totally changed.  I used to want everything to be picturesque and beautiful. While I still want things to be beautiful, lately it's more important to me that they help create magical holidays for my son.  I want him to be just as excited as I am to get the holiday decorations out, and I don't want to gasp when he tries to pick up something made of glittery glass.  Things are a lot less about beauty and a lot more about fun.  With that in mind, I've starting collecting some holiday toys to store with the decorations so Creed has something a little extra to look forward to each holiday.  He already had his own nativity set and this Christmas I added these Christmas puppets from Land of Nod to the stash.

I posted about this Playmobil Bunny school last year.
I've since learned that Playmobil has a whole Easter Bunny series and they have a different piece every year or two.  This year it's the Easter Bunny treehouse.  It think it would be such a fun toy to add to the few Easter decorations we have.  The toadstool school has been retired, but there are still a few available on Amazon and thanks do an Amazon gift certificate that Larry just got, one of these might soon be ours.