A Toy Essay

Toys.  Yes.  Let's be distracted, for a bit from the situation at hand.  Charlotte & Ruby (bless their hearts) have spent their summer inside...thank God for toys and imagination.

All of the toys I had as a child were disposed of..."donated".  I don't have a single memento remaining. (The girls actually have, to play with, Adam's Care Bear, Cabbage Patch Kid, Raggedy Ann & Andy, and his toolbox)  This may have something to do with why I have become a "toy hoarder". 

A neurotically organized toy hoarder, but a toy hoarder none the less.  Toy organizing keeps me up past midnight on more nights than one.  Is it problematic? my therapist might ask...no...there's something oddly soothing about sorting and stowing little toys.  Do you think this means my life is too easy?  I need something BIGGER to focus on but because there isn't anything I'm obsessing over daily toy clutter?  No, I don't think so.  I have a sick child, an imminent "to God know's where?" move, and a husband that has been working 80/hr/wk.  Toys are nice.

Charlotte and Ruby have a lot of toys.  A LOT of toys.  TOO MANY TOYS!  Whenever we get a new, large shipment (that sounded insane, okay, Christmas or birthdays)...we donate the older ones (then Charlotte finds them and here-we-go-again)...but there are some that I doubt I'll ever be able to completely disregard.  Of course, the lovies will always be here...the classic wooden toys, most Melissa & Doug (oh! I wonder if we'll have room to keep the play kitchen? table & chairs?), the over-priced but hand-painted Shleich animals...to which you already can't buy any more of.  The girls hardly play with those but I like to line them up and look at them.  They make me feel rich.

Charlotte has 564 Little Pet Shop animals.  And she'll still manage to holler out to me, 'mom!  where's the pink elephant with the green hat and blue freckle?'

And I know where it is. 

Charlotte's favorite toy:  "I jus wuv awhl a dey"

Ruby's favorite toy:  Breyer Horses, Melissa & Doug Decorate-Your-Own Cupcakes

I hardly even remember the toys I played with as a kid.  Mom - what toys were my favorite when I was a kid?

...I do, however, remember one bathtub toy distinctly.  Rub-a-Dub Dog.  Did you have one?!  Oh, I loved mine.  We also had an elephant shower head and a soft spongy polar bear faucet cover.  And I think that's it.  I distinctly remember my younger sister playing with washcloths and her feet...so we must have not had too many. 

So, when I saw it in a vintage toy catalog I knew my girls had to have it: Rub-A-Dub Dog.  Mine & Lisa's was the brown boy dog, my girls got the honey-colored, pink-hairbowed girl dog.  And they love her, Ruby especially...Charlotte is a bit preoccupied with bathtub Ariel and Belle.  Man...lucky...If my sister had had a bathtub barbie she might not have turned to her toes..."weewah's" she called them...

I tend to buy toys out of guilt too. 

Thursday is Charlotte's appointment with the pediatric pulmonologist.  I'm already having some anxiety about that one...and am planning a trip to the Disney Store or Build-a-Bear afterwards...

...I shouldn't say that though...am I the only way that feels better after purchasing something?  No!  I know I'm not. 

Charlotte is very excited to "see a doctor that can tell me what medicine to take and what that's a picture of inside of me" - she's seen her x-rays...she says she doesn't remember drinking all that milk...and, "what are lungs?" finally, "that does not look like a heart, mom!  What do you mean?!"

We all need answers.

So Thursday is the big appointment with the pediatric pulmonologist.  Wish us luck.   

...it's a gorilla.  the sticker on Ruby is a mountain gorilla.

What a good dog we have.  And old Moses is adored by us all...what will we do if Charlotte's is allergic to dogs?  I can't even go there...

...let's just think about toys.