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Showing posts with the label toys

My hovercraft is full of ... children

Ella and I (Michael) built an air film bearing hovercraft , at her specific request and sole instigation. This is surprisingly easy. The hard part is to get the right tension on the skirt. It can hold an adult. The whole family tried it (serially, not simultaneously). It's hard to really get the idea from a still image, though; it really takes a movie .

A boy and his car

Last summer when we were on our way up to MN and WI, I bought Luke a remote control car . This car is perfect for toddlers: it has just one button. Press and hold it once, you make the car go straight. The next press, it will spin. Press again, it goes straight again and so on. Luke loves the car. Last summer his sisters were interested in it (especially Amanda) as well as his cousin, who actually figured out how to maneuver it with a purpose. But Luke has figured out how to turn it on, which gratifyingly makes flashing lights and zooming noises. Then he presses the button, sends the car off, and chases after it, giggling. He likes to make it run into things, especially himself and his mother. He likes to make it drive down the stairs, but we've almost trained him out of that. He clearly does not have much of a sense of exactly what happens when he presses the button: he'll carry the car around while pressing the button, start and stop while expecting something differe...

Toy Store

We have too many toys at our house. I realized this as I was looking at toy storage/organization sites, thinking about the chore of sorting all the toys, finding the missing pieces, and keeping them sorted despite the best efforts of the children. So instead of investing in new toy storage options, I decided to cut down on the clutter. I have friends who regularly sort through their kids toys, send some away, rotate old toys out and "new" old toys in from storage. My problem with this is that they aren't my toys. When I have tried to get rid of old toys, before I manage to take them to Goodwill the kids will ask me "Where did the big rabbit go?" and we'll get them out of the box. I don't know which toys they want to get rid of. For example, they have a strange fascination with Mr. Potato head, which would go to the dump if I had my choice. On the other hand, every time I have tried to get the kids to get rid of toys, suddenly they all become precio...