in the common hours

Top Toys #1- 4

Trying to tie up loose ends from '07... click Kid Reviews under categories to see toys #6-10.

Toy #4: Mr. Potato Head

Okay, maybe not for everyone but this is our list after all, and all I can say is this toy gets a lot of mileage around here. Aidan may have more Potato Head parts than a collector, thanks to his grandparents (who gave him Space Potato Head and Spiderman Potato Head, among others) and to my own excitement at the challenge of fitting as many unique Potato Head accessories as possible into a bag at Once Upon a Toy.

Mr. Potato Head also makes a good sidekick to several superheroes, so he gets pulled out often. So there is usually a stray arm or hat under our couch...

#3: Wooden Food Set

Love this one. Tiny ones gnaw on it (see the Melissa Doug website for info on their products and their assurance about paint, etc. No lead-paint recalls there!), little ones cut it up with the kid-friendly wooden knife, and big ones serve you lunch with it. We pack it up every so often, but it always comes back out. Definitely worth the $.

#2: Power Tools and Tool Bench

They are Brian's sons after all. Aidan received his Craftsman tool bench from Santa when he was 2 years old. It's all plastic and batteries and realistic noises, not my kind of thing at all---but they love it, as does every boy who enters our home.

I've seen some sets that are too 'task-oriented' so that they require an adult's help, and other sets that offer nothing for a child to *do* (besides push that noise button). This one is a good balance (though there must be better ones out there).

For my guys, it was and still is all about the safety goggles:-)

#1 Top Toy:  Arts & Crafts Supplies!

Okay, maybe that's a cop-out because they aren't really toys, but man, if they ain't loved around here.  Gramare gave the guys a big plastic jar filled with pipe cleaners,googlie eyes, and popsicle sticks----and they were in awe! These two can never get enough of paper or freshly sharpened pencils. I'm always being asked if Aidan can dive into my stash of ribbon, buttons, or brads.

I have a friend who saves every paper towel roll, etc., for her boys' craft closet, and when she told me that, I did feel a pang of guilt. Then I read Camp Creek Press's post about creating a kid-friendly studio and felt even more guilt . Of course I also read Peter Walsh's It's All Too Much last year, so I've found a compromise. I've given Aidan some space, where he can "collect" all the household found objects he wants for his creations---until the designated space is filled. Then you gotta use some before you add more. Because space is limited, even if buttons are not:-)  And this is a kid who won't let me throw anything away---the cup cozy from take-out chai is essential for "something" he wants to make.

Still, nothing makes Aidan happier than making something or creating something or---lately--just drawing up plans for the things he's going to invent when he's older.

And there are no batteries required:-)

Finally, 3 Honorable Mentions:

3. Superheroes/Action Figures

Because I'd be misleading you if I didn't mention them.

Sean usually has one in his fist throughout the entire day.

2. Stuffed Animals

I always favored them over dolls as a kid, but as an adult, they just seem like germ-collectors to me. And we have WAAAAY too many of them. But these boys have so much love to give.

One of my all-time favorite photos. Aidan was four at the time and I grabbed my camera when I saw he had set up all his friends with him to read on the couch.

Pootie 

&

Yellow

Sometimes I think they just really need a dog. Give me two more years, guys, I promise.

While not a toy, the last is more essential than any toy or object. Save the $ you'd spend on toys and let your kids play with this as much as possible:

#3. Wide Open Spaces

   

Top Toy #5

(This photo must be from 2006---Aidan still had wavy hair. Where did it go?)

Lego's are a no-brainer. Everyone knows Lego's, but they really are as good as they ever were (unlike the old Fisher Price airport and car garage, which got make-overs that made them lame).

My only input would be to stay in the Duplo stage as long as possible. Basic building pieces, too large for little siblings to swallow. The next step up seems to be a step backward to me. Aidan has received several themed sets, where the parts still fit interchangeably, but seem to limit the imagination. He ends up wanting to make the picture on the box, instead of his own thing.

Duplo, and then when you do move up, go for the "creator" series, which steer clear of the whole licensed character sets.

Top Toys 7 & 6

I don't really know what that monkey is doing, but something suspicious was definitely going on and brought out the conductor and his friends.

Toy #7 doesn't have the same longevity as the previous three, but it is a favorite. I can't imagine the boys will still be playing with trains when they are 8 years old, but for now, it gets daily use. A wooden train set, with lots of tracks, a few tunnels and bridges and magnetic trains. We have a few Thomas trains, but the tracks and tunnels are from Brio. We've heard their accessories last a lot longer.

When Aidan was 2 1/2, Santa brought him the Polar Express train set. It was the first thing he opened and then he seriously would not open one more present the rest of that day.

2004, when our dining room still had no furniture. I couldn't wait to fill it, and now I see this and long for all that open space!

#6:   A train table might seem like an unnecessary luxury, but it really is its own toy, full of possibilities. This image is in a file filled with similar ones for ideas back when Brian was planning on building one himself. Eventually we opted for the cheaper and faster route of just buying one. I only wish we had done it sooner. The table allows the kids to set up the tracks without then tripping over them or having to put it away each night.

A table does limit the number of accessories and elaborate set-ups that can fit---but, again, less is more, even when it comes to trains.

It serves as a base for Lego's and Lincoln Logs, and I love the ease it adds to toy clean up. When in doubt, put it on the train table.

Brian, Deirdre, Aidan, Sean and ?

Just to be clear,  we aren't asking anyone else to name the baby;-)

But we are asking for suggestions. We have a list, but at least right now there isn't one we both agree on completely. So please post your top three boy names under the comments anytime between now and March. You can list one at a time or all three at once, but we are limiting you to just three (so you can't just list every name you think of).

It doesn't have to be Irish, but we do tend to prefer those. It does need to go well with the litany of this post's title, as well as Keating.

Aidan's idea for a prize was a "popcorn" party...so we'll go with a gift certificate to the movie theater of your choice, popcorn included, of course:-)

Top Toy #8: Music Makers

Aidan's godparents, Angie and Jeff, gave him a box full of kid-friendly musical toys/instruments a few years ago. He has since added his Kindermusik harmonicas, wooden spoons and some McCann's Irish Oatmeal containers (they make great drums).

These toys don't get pulled out every day (thankfully) but they do have staying power. Sean seems  naturally drawn to them, and they are called upon for every parade through the house (which happens more often than you'd imagine). We're big fans of the Melissa & Doug brand, whose set is available at Amazon, and there's another at Land of Nod.

Georgia Update

A big thanks to those who've contacted me about helping with gift bags for children in the Republic of Georgia. You can learn more about the project by clicking here. Kathy's email today cracked me up so I have to share:

"There's a line of laundry products called Barf.  I see big displays of Barf in the bazaar.  I can't bring myself to use barf to do my laundry. The big supermarket is called the Goodwill Hypermarket.  I guess super and hyper mean the same in the dictionary of whomever named the store."

Wishing strength and perseverance to everyone heading to Hypermarkets in preparation for the holiday!

Top Toy #9

 

A gift from Gramare and Grandpa Keating when Aidan was two years old. Brio's Wooden Blocks have been a big hit in our house.

They are available at Amazon, Target, and Toys R 'Us, but I'm sad to say they have changed the design a bit. As well as a new "girl" set with pink and black blocks (because girls don't like primary colors?!), they also seem to be using more small blocks, especially those triangle roof tops---that aren't conducive to building really.

Maybe with a better Google search you could find an older set, or the one with lots of red columns. The boys always fight over the columns. You need those.

A lot of great information at Barclay Wooden Blocks, an American company that doesn't paint their blocks. More expensive, but, as they point out, this is one toy that children play with for years. Their baby set is priced competitively, and you can add to the set as your child grows.

I like their recommendation of storing them on a bookshelf. We use a large sterilite container. I love how these blocks get used during other imaginative play, to make a bridge for Batman, or a home for an animal. They always get pulled out during a playdate.

Of course, the best part is the big "BOOM" when you knock it all down!

Daily Moments & Toy #10

Aidan's grace at dinner tonight:

"Dear Lord, Thank you for our life, and the turkey we are going to have at Thanksgiving, and for our good dinner, and for my dad and mom and Sean...and for my brother Talen who isn't here yet. Amen"

Sean sometimes gets into a monologue when it's his turn, but Aidan normally just says, "Thanks for this food. Amen." So we cracked up at this extemporization, and the sly plug for his latest name choice for Baby #3.  There is a little boy in his class named Talen, who has special needs and a full-time aid, and who obviously has made quite an impression on Aidan.

Meanwhile, Sean is in full superhero mode lately. Sometimes he's content with just a hat or a mask, but most of the time he requires the full ensemble.

What I enjoy most is how Sean automatically fits the rest of us into his new identity. I remember long debates as a child along the lines of, "Okay, I'll be (blank) and you be (blank)." For Sean, there is no discussion, he just assigns you a role. Aidan was having a fit when Sean refused to call him anything but "Woody" all weekend. And last week, when I nestled a Spiderman-dressed Sean into my lap and said "I love you", without skipping a beat Sean replied, "Me love you too, Mary Jane."

Which brings me to the first of our TOP TEN TOYS list!

#10: Costumes/Dress Up Items

While helping Sean change into a different costume for the 344th time today, I realized that when Aidan was his age, we didn't own any superhero costumes yet. If you can avoid doing so until your child is completely able to dress himself, that would be a plus!

Still, Aidan spent much of his time "in character" at that age...mostly as Mowgli from The Jungle Book, which consisted of stripping down to his chonies and wrapping a toy snake around his arm. My favorites are still the costumes he comes up with on his own, either characters from his own imagination or his own take on well-known ones. This photo is his version of Clark Kent after we watched the first Christopher Reeve "Superman" last year.

Now is a good time to fill your own costume box with reduced or resale halloween costumes. Much to Aidan's dismay, I don't even attempt to make their halloween costumes. Most of the boys' costumes have been Ebay finds, and well-worth the money because they are worn almost daily. Superhero PJs work just as well, and are often cheaper. There is something freeing about the costumes, where I see our boys able to express other sides of themselves and try out different postures and attitudes. And they often lead to elaborate rescues that they create.

Somehow I don't think the princess costumes that so many little girls have today work the same way.

 

Toys

Toys are on my mind. We are facing the dilemma of moving the toy closet out of Sean's room, since it will become the baby's nursery. Only Aidan's closet will now also be Sean's closet, so there really won't be room for toys there. If only the basement were finished and all the toys could go down there, but that's not happening anytime soon. And perhaps for the best...because less really is more when it comes to toys.

I hadn’t been paying much attention to the "Year of the Recall", as coined on CoolMomPicks, (see their links to lots of lead-free fun stuff for kids). I was feeling cocky that most of it wouldn't apply to us. We have our share of plastic toys (as evidenced by our Buzz Lightyear, who might just be the first hard plastic toy to reach Velveteen Rabbit status). I'll even admit to driving through a fast food restaurant and ordering a meal ala Jack Nickolson in Six Easy Pieces: hold the hamburger and fries and just give us the cheap plastic toy please.

Overall though, we make an effort to avoid trends and find quality toys that allow a child to play. (Usually it is the toy that does cool things, and the kids are just supposed to wind it up or push its button or watch.) We still got hit with a recall. Earlier this year we had to send in a red train from the Thomas line. The majority of our train toys are Brio, so we only had the one train to mail, and they followed up nicely with a replacement and a bonus train. Still a favorite toy in our house.

And then this week I saw a second hit: Aidan's beloved George.  

They aren't replacing him, only refunding him. His face contains lead. He was once Aidan's constant companion, and is still often his bedtime snuggle choice. And he's not just another stuffed animal; he reminds us of the beloved friend who gave him, and of our exciting trip to LA to celebrate the premiere of "Curious George" with her.

So I found myself rationalizing, how much lead is too much lead? How often is Aidan or Sean or Baby #3 going to kiss or lick that monkey's face?

This is what I learned at Science Buzz:

Lead is invisible and has no smell. And most children with elevated blood lead levels have no symptoms. The only way to tell if a child has been exposed is to have his or her blood tested. Small amounts of lead can cause brain and nervous system damage, slowed growth, or hearing problems. Larger amounts can cause kidney damage, coma, or even death.

Most toy recalls are about a screw coming lose or some part coming off, and in looking up the recalls of this year, I see no company is immune. Sometimes the recalls seem more about lawsuit mania than real danger, but with lead, any amount is too much for a child's toy, in my opinion. The rise of learning disabilities, autism, and behavioral issues all have complex causes that aren't fully understood, but I can't help thinking unsafe toys might be a small part of that puzzle.

So George will have to go. Along with hoping for Aidan's eventual forgiveness, I hope that this news cycle will have larger ramifications. Hopefully everyone will be looking more closely at the gift choices they make this season. Not just asking, might it contain lead, but also, who made this toy? Were they paid adequately in safe conditions? How might a child play with this? How long might the fascination last? Can it be used in more than one way? Is it worth not only the price on its tag, but the space it will occupy in a home?

I don't know the answers for balancing globalization and safety and responsible consumerism. So instead I will share what I do know: less is more. The fewer toys we have out, the more my sons actually play with them. The less the toy is made to do, the more our kids can imagine it doing. 

I love this week's quote: it's "fun to have things, but more fun to make them." Aidan has taught me that more than anyone. His most common sleeping-companion of late: a paper "Stuart" he drew and cut out after reading Stuart Little. He's had to recreate it several times as Stuart doesn't take to water very well, and there's probably a few hanging out with the dust bunnies under his bed, but the act of creating it is where the joy really lies.

On a more positive note, throughout the month I'll be posting some of our very favorite toys for those who need ideas for their own kids this holiday season. Every kid is different, and it is often hit and miss as to what will capture their imagination and last beyond the two-day “novelty” phase. I’ll be back with toys that have had staying power for us.