Toys

Even as an adult, I’ve kept some toys around. After all, I need them as educational aids in my classes. Legos help to teach about small group communication roles. Students use the giant talking Tick doll to evaluate it as a children’s toy. Even the “sold exclusively through the Home Shopping Network” Classic Video Games (Don’t you just love Pole Position and Ms. Pac Man???) have cultural value. And while I’m not exactly how to justify the rubber chicken or a bobbily-headed Jesus, I’m sure they have professional purposes too.

But now I find myself surrounded by toys. My eight month old son is by no means spoiled. Most of the toys he has are for the 0-6 month range and came with us on the plane. He also has the range of Baby Einstein toys, stuffed animals and whatever people in the States have sent. His whole collection of plastics and fur could fit in an average toy box and yet they often seem to move on their own.

On a typical morning his toys are typically found in three areas. We keep a blanket and pile of them in his bedroom, the living room and the dining room/kitchen. But it’s like building a tower of pudding. Soon they leak into the hallway and on to mommy and daddy’s bed. You need to dodge the Stackable trucks to get to the computer in the office. Link-a-doos litter the inside of our SUV. Right now a teddy bear is trying to help me type. His toys are underneath tables and cabinets and chairs.

I could accept this if he was walking or crawling but right now all he does is roll. So the fault is either placed on my wife and I or it’s one of those Erma Bombeck, “where do socks end up when they get lost in the dryer?” sort of things. Neither answer is good.

Right now his toys hold little interest for me but eventually I look forward to a time when his toys become my toys. The good news for our pocketbook is that here there are no Toys R Us or Kaybee’s or even Wal-Mart. Instead we have closet size stores selling the best of cheap Chinese plastics. And we draw the line at purchasing Craiolla Crayons or Funstation Vidio System. Plus, our normal “resupply center” has just been closed to us now that the “easy” five hour flight to Kenya has stopped flying. So much for getting brown sugar, rootbeer and DVDs. Still, waiting for the occasional trips to the US isn’t too bad. As long as my boy has empty boxes and crinkly wrapping, he’s happy.