good timing

At the nursery school's annual picnic last week Stella won, handily I might add, the sack race, foot race and tied for first in a photo finish in the wheelbarrow race. What can I say? The kid is speedy. But I think it was the mountain of prizes waiting to be won that was really behind her Olympic-worthy performance. She cleaned up, and we came home with a large bag full of stuff. The dreaded plasticky stuff that fills under-the-bed bins, lurks behind the couch, litters the car floor and makes the thwacking sound in the dryer as it falls out of one pocket or another. Of course all of it ultimately ends up in the garbage. The leg that falls off the *walking* dinosaur seconds after its unwrapping. The disappointing ball that doesn't really bounce. The thingy that falls off the thingy, rendering it useless. And on and on. I have a personal ban on plasticky junk: I do not buy it for my kids or for anyone else, but it invades my life just the same.

My sister-in-law sent me this snip from a CNN blog yesterday:
Have you had enough of the china-made recall stories? I'm considering going retro for my toddler nephews... and getting the old-fashioned wooden toys. The kind where you go to a small crafting/antiques/knickknacks tourist town and a guy is standing there actually making them for you at his shop. Today I'll interview a “fortune” magazine guest about whether this is going to be a very different christmas."

Amen to that. If there is any good to come from this toy recall mess, let it be a return to toys that A) actually work B) won't hurt you C) use a little imagination. Now we all know there is a vast difference between the stuff a 4-year old thinks is cool and great and the stuff a 38-year old gets giddy over. But as a keen observer of how my kids play, the thing they return to over and over again is a big box of building blocks Stella's had since she was a baby. They've been turned into the tower of Pisa, castles, boats and, lately, a jail for misbehaving farm animals. They don't break, make noise, get boring after 5 minutes, annoy adults or end up in the garbage. They are perfect, and on that the 4 year old and 38 year old agree.

We are also in agreement over these very sweet new toys. They're handknit by a fair trade cooperative. The veggies and tool belt toys are rattles for little hands, and the donuts and cupcakes are a welcome addition to the play food menu.

PS
Thank you Sue for passing on this recall link. The photos that accompany each product are really helpful when trying to figure out if you have any of this stuff in your house.