Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
Today we received our first box of toys to review as part of the Toys R Us Toyologists scheme. Yesterday we had received the larger item which funnily enough wouldn't fit in the box! I'll be posting proper reviews of the items within the next few weeks but for the moment I thought I'd share the moment that The Boy opened them up.
Yesterday was a rollercaster ride all centred around the high of becoming a Toys R Us Toyologist. I cannot even begin to convey the great sense of pride that they liked our little blog, and our little family, enough to chose us to represent them for the next six-seven months.
A great deal of time was spent on twitter last night with several of my other fellow Toyologists (The Crazy Kitchen, Inside the Wendy House and EdSpire) discussing what would be involved, how many deliveries of toys we would have and how frequently, when would we get the information e-mail sent through, etc. I decided to go Googling and see what I could find out from the previous round of Toyologists blogs.
Reading More Than Just A Mother (by the excellent Emily Carlisle), I realised that there was going to be an awful lot of toys coming our way over the next half a year. Although the programme has been altered to reflect the viability of reviewing that many items, there is still going to be more than enough for one little boy. In my questionnaire which I received as a result of being shortlisted, I stated that I would be reviewing the toys with my niece and nephew, and would also hold Toyologist tea-parties with my baby and toddler group. That much remains true; I will do those things because I know how much enjoyment they will get out of it. However more worthy benefactors will be needed.
As Uncle Ben told Peter, "with great power comes great responsibility."
Now, I do realise that I am not Spiderwoman (a good thing bearing in mind my opinion of arachnids), however I do have a responsibility. I have a responsibility to my son to ensure that he doesn't 'expect' things to arrive for him without having worked for them. I have a responsibility to ensure that he grows up as a caring and responsible child, considering the needs of others before his own. I have a responsibility to prevent him from becoming spoilt.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not spoilsport mummy entirely (apart from when it comes to playing with mud); yes he will get to play with the toys and keep some of them, yes we will be giving a few to friends and family, and yes some of the toddler groups in our area (who may find it difficult to obtain resources from other areas) may benefit. However a significant proportion of the toys will be donated (once reviewed) to two local children's hospitals. One of them is Tŷ Hafan which offers comfort, care and support for life-limited children and young people and is dedicated to improving the quality of life of their whole family. Ty Hafan, and I, believe that play is a very important therapy for not only the children suffering from life-limiting illnesses but also their siblings. It is a magical place which needs all the support it can get.
The other children's hospital that I would like to donate to is the one that The Boy was in for five days when he was three weeks old. The Children's Hospital for Wales is amazing and without it I don't want to think what would have happened to our family. The hospital has been built in stages and almost entirely from charitable donations. The Boy was in for less than a week and I was overwhelmed at how amazing the staff and children were. However one little girl had been in for 13 weeks with severe eczema, and she was just one of a handful of children confined to the ward for a long period of her short life. I'd like to give back to them in a small way and I know that those children would appreciate new toys to play with.
We are so pleased to be ambassadors for Toys R Us and, through this, to be in a position to help other children less fortunate than The Boy. Thanks Toys R Us, we won't let you down!
I am over the moon!
The Boy and me, and probably daddy too if we let him, have been chosen to be Toyologists for Toys R Us! This is huge and so so exciting. The process involved having to do a review of a toy that fell into one of three categories; we chose the outdoor play theme and reviewed the Little Tikes Makin' Mud Pies Kitchen. Amazingly and happily we were shortlisted along with 24 other lovely mums and dads.
Then last Wednesday evening, very late at night (it's when my brain works best much to hubby's discontent) I spent an hour and a half completing and submitting the comprehensive questionnaire explaining to Geoffrey Giraffe why we would be an ideal family to choose. I obviously managed to convince him because today at 12.08pm (ish) the lovely Toys R Us posted on their wall that we were one of the lucky ten families to be chosen! I had just got The Boy to sleep and was still holding him at the time, so I did a silent squeal of delight and gave him a celebratory kiss.
This now means that I get to be part of a lovely community of mummy, and daddy, reviewers who assist Geoffrey and friends in working out brilliant toys and helping to promote what has got to be the UK's biggest toy retailer. I was honoured to be shortlisted, now I am overwhelmed and so very proud.
It also means that I get to put this funky badge on my blog.
Final word from The Boy himself:
The Boy adores playing with water. He loves washing his hands, the bath, swimming (mostly as long as his daft mother doesn't take him too far into the deep water!), filling up containers with water, and playing with watering cans. You may have seen that I recently set up a water play area for him in the garden, which he loves. If we are feeling in an adventurous mood, we let him play with the hose which is hilarious because he always ends up "soaky wet!".
So when we saw this rather marvellous contraption recently in Toys 'R' Us we really couldn't resist it. This is the Little Tikes 'Makin' Mud Pies' Kitchen (retails for £39.99). We're getting him a sand and water table for his birthday in June, but I'm a little impatient, impulsive instinctive and so we went with my gut feeling that he would love it.
And he does, he really does.
Now I may let him loose with the water, but I'm slightly apprehensive when it comes to the 'Makin' Mud' part. (I really don't know why, because I used to be there in the garden behind the greenhouse digging in the dirt and ensuring that the consistency was just right for slopping and pouring. Just call me spoilsport mummy.) He has had lessons in mudpies from his five year old cousin, and it's only a matter of time before he tranfers these skills over to the kitchen, but for the moment, he's happy to play with the water functions.
The Little Tikes kitchen is fantastic and came along at the right time; he had started to become obsessed with turning the tap on and seeing the water gushing out. If I turned my back for a second, the little tike (ahem) was in the downstairs cloakroom splashing about in the hand basin. With this toy, he has his own tap and his own sink. The main sink and counter of the kitchen is actually a well for water which you can fill up and empty very easily, this also helps to weigh the kitchen down so it doesn't accidentally tip, or blow over in the wind. Into this counter is a moulded sink and a working tap! The tap actually pumps water out, but this is my only criticism of it; the pump action is at the moment very stiff and the water doesn't flow as easily as I think it should. However The Boy doesn't mind; he likes a challenge and it's his water so it doesn't matter. A bonus feature is that there is a bung underneath the plughole which allows for easy emptying of all the water, no residual ring is stuck anywhere in the mouldings.
The other feature of this kitchen is the mixer, used of course for ensuring a perfect consistency of mud. It's mounted on a stand on the counter, next to the sink and has a turn handle to rotate the sturdy plastic blade. It turns very easily although if The Boy gets the angle slightly wrong, it can lift up out of the bowl, but that is due to my 23 month old son's stage of physical development not a design flaw. He's actually put many different things in to mix including dried pasta and grass, but has never once thought about putting soil in yet. I'm sure the time will come! The set also comes with a sieve, a mixing bowl, a mould, a shaker pot, and two spoons; all of which are excellent for transfering water around.
I could draw on my teacher-knowledge and talk about the educational benefits of this kitchen 'til I'm blue in the face, but I'd rather let The Boy, and the toy, speak for themselves.
