Missing in Action
April 18 2012 Posted in: Daily Life
My son’s action figures have all lost their heads, and various other body parts.
It’s a sad bunch.
Archive for the ‘a toy’s story’ Tag
April 18 2012 
Zebra Buddy
February 16 2012 Posted in: Daily Life
After weeping over how grown up my oldest is getting earlier last week, Jedi later came home with a stuffed zebra he acquired at his school’s Valentine shop. With all smiles, he literally skipped his way to me.
“I got to go to the school store!”, he exclaimed, the animal’s paws dancing behind my son’s bouncing back.
“What’d you get?”, I replied in turn, not able to see fully what he had at the time.
Bringing it to light from behind his back, he beamed, “A zebra! He was my bus buddy on the bus!”. It was a mohawked zebra at that, obviously in need of a wild handle to go along with his appearance.
The rest of the evening, he wouldn’t allow Bus Buddy, as it came to be referred, to leave his side. It sat next to him while he ate, it watched him play on the computer, he gave it a voice and put on a show with his sister and her bear. Thus, it was no surprise when he wanted to take Bus Buddy to bed with him. Alas, as we were ending the night, I decided that his zebra couldn’t go without a proper name any longer.
Now my kids have never been the outlandish sort with the monikers they choose. Still, I tried. “You know, Bus Buddy needs a name. We can’t just call him Bus Buddy forever. How about… Buster? Get it, Bus… ter?”. I thought it was rather creative suggestion. Jedi didn’t feel the same, however.
“No”, he refused flatly, clearly a better, crazier idea in mind. A zebra with a mohawk, the options were endless. Or as far as his imagination would take him.
“I know!”, he said. “I’ll call him Zebra Buddy!”
His imagination didn’t take him very far.
The Top of the Toy Pile
January 10 2012 Posted in: Daily Life
It’s been a few weeks since Christmas now, and all the toys my kids received have lost their novelty. For this year, I made it a mission to gift items that held a purpose, rather than, say, a Captain America action figure that would just be thrown in a drawer to be forgotten. As always, however, some were more of a hit than others.
These are the top toys from Christmas ’11 that haven’t been a waste of money:
1. Play-Doh Fun Factory Deluxe Set: Santa must have been high on candy canes this Christmas when he decided to leave this play-doh set under the tree for Buzz. With the constantly picking beads of doh out of my carpet since, and fighting a losing battle in my obsessive compulsion to keep the colors separated. This isn’t about me, though.
2. Abby & Emma Magnetic Dress-Up: Big, chunky pieces with a lot of options. It keeps my little fashion star’s attention for awhile as she mixes and matches the outfits. It’s something I would have loved as a kid.
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: This was a last minute addition to Jedi’s stocking. I’ve bought him other chapter books in the past that he never so much as glanced at. This one, however, a book with over 200 pages, he finished in 4 days.
4. LEGO Duplo Building Set: Buzz loves LEGOs. I bought him a few sets of the regular LEGOs, but he’s not quite at the level to put them together by himself yet. The Duplos are just right for him. And it comes with a playmat that can be zipped together into a bin for additional storage. Anything that comes with its own storage is a good idea.
5. AquaDoodle: Christmas night, I set this up and watched as all 3 of my children sat together and played with it. Taking turns. Together. It was amazing.
6. Hungry Hungry Hippos: I remember this game from my youth being really loud. There’s enough noise in my house as it is, so I was hesitant. But turns out, it’s a really great game for all of us. It’s straightforward and easy enough for Buzz and Abby, but competitive for Jedi. Now, the only thing we need to work on is the sore losing attitude.
Gone Fishin’
October 01 2010 Posted in: Daily Life
Buzz is a hands in the dirt kind of boy. He’ll try to drag in anything from outside he can sneak past. Rocks, big sticks, small twigs, leaves, weeds, grass, mud, bugs, random scraps of trash found like treasure. He relishes in nature and it’s myriad of possibilities.
The other day, like many times before, a stick found its way inside our living room. Before I could throw it out the front door into the wild where it belongs like I normally would, Buzz began to protest. He grabbed it out of my hand then ran down the hall, returning a short time later with a blue cotton string, his little mind whirling.
He tried to wrap the string around the stick, but he hasn’t yet conquered the world of knots. Figuring out what he was attempting, I tied it at the end for him as his face lit up.
“Fishing pole!”, he exclaimed in creative jubilance.
He peered over the edge of the living room table, fishing pole firmly in hand. His line cast, dangling into the carpeted water below, he sat perched, waiting for the fish to bite the imaginary lure.
“I’m going fishing!”, he roared, as his blue cotton line began to tug at invisible weight. He struggled, reeling in that first prize with all his strength. The payoff for all his hard work was a larger-than-life, the ever elusive…
Mr. Potato Head?
“I caught it!”
Anything is possible.
The Roundup Gang
August 03 2010 Posted in: Daily Life
There once was a boy who had a few favorite toys who leaped straight from of a movie. They were part of a group, a Roundup Gang they were called. A space ranger, a sheriff, sometimes a cowgirl, too, and their trusty kid keeping them in tow. They were friends for years.
Then one day, a tragic event ensued. The space ranger lost his head.
We tried to affix it back together with super glue, even duct tape a time or two. His top just wouldn’t adhere. Still, every now and then, the parts are handed off for another attempt to please make him whole again. But it isn’t any use.
It goes to show no matter how loved, a boy can be rough with his toys.
Sooner or later it was bound to occur when another limb would fall. This time, the boy ran in with the sheriff’s boot in his hand. It’s hard to chase down bad guys with only one pad, so we tried in vain to attach him again. Super glue, duct tape, the usual tools. But it wasn’t any use.
The boy didn’t mind, he didn’t care. He might have whined momentarily, wishing them the way they were. But a friend is still a friend, after all.
A space ranger without a head, a sheriff without his foot, each dirty with age and fingers chewed. The same boy and his favorite toys. Still the familiar Roundup Gang. Just not nearly as new.
Welcome to Kid Things. I'm Crystal. A mom to 3 living in the Midwest USA. Here, I like to tell stories from our days and share what we enjoy...
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