Let me preface this entry by making a huge excuse for the spoilage of my son, Will. Aside from his inherent awesomeness and beyond this planet cuteness, he is also currently the only Grandson with one set of Grandparents, and a 3rd Grandchild to the other set. He is also a Nephew to my two sisters and my husband's siblings - two sisters and a brother... not to mention the endless sea of extended family that we all love and adore. Then there are the friends... Wow, we sound like the most popular kids in school, right? Not.
In Will's vast lifetime of 2 years... I think that Mr. Sal and I have purchased--at the most--10% of his belongings... toys and clothing... All the rest have been bestowed upon us by our loving collection of friends and family... The toys that have truly turned our home into a playhouse... and the clothing... MY GOD THE CLOTHING. Honestly, we love it... so if you are reading this... please DO NOT STOP... But during the holidays... it does beg the question as parents... What to buy?... I turned to Mari @ Small for Big, a friendthat I am stalking whose website I am slightly obsessed with... I love Mari's picks because the items are all dollar friendly, somewhat green and are usually created with an AWESOME design sense... I might just buy a few things for myself to display as our Holiday centerpiece.. Regardless, I'm sure by the end of this list I will have spent it all--sorry to the rest, it's all for Will this year... Take it away Mari!...
When I sent out my request to help shop for the kids dear to you this holiday season, little did I realize Ry's response would be: "what do I get for the boy who has everything?" Hmm. That's one of those tough ones isn't it. And with the grandparents' tendencies to spoil kids rotten (we love it though, right?) I think the phenomenon is pretty common.
So, I thought I'd help her out with some of my favorites for a 2 year old boy who happens to like trucks, trains, blocks puzzles, and balls. There's something in every price range here - and some great things for girls too.
Magic Gertie Ball - Many parents already know the wonders of the easy to grasp, easy to inflate Gertie Ball. But the Magic Gertie is special - remember Hypercolor clothes in the 80's? It's baaaaaack. (This is much better than my HS choir teacher and his hypercolor shorts. Not Kidding.)
Stacking Cone - An Act Two twist on the classic stacker - it's definitely harder than your standard version - for the puzzler side of Mr. Will.
Billibo - A toy beyond explanations. Because it's creative potential is best unlocked by a kid (hat? Rocker? Pail? Sled? Something never seen before?) This one made Small for Big's theWANTlists this year.
Dexterity Stellina Color Sorting Puzzle - Mr. Will can find hours of puzzling choices with this crazy star-shaped shape/size/color sorter.
Douglas, from Monster Factory - Because every single monster at the Monster Factory is worthy of Mr. Will's love, but I could only pick one.
Switchback Racetrack - A vertical way to get your fix of racing, crashing, and little boys' squealing.
Dalmation's Choice Fire Engine - The Cadillac (sorry, fire truck) of ride-ons. It's a retro classic to keep for the grandchildren. It has to be for that price.
Thanks Mari!--To follow up, en-route to our house via Santa's sled (PS did you know that if Santa actually went as fast as he would have to go to reach all the children of the world in one night, his sled would burst into flames? sorry.)...
In Will's vast lifetime of 2 years... I think that Mr. Sal and I have purchased--at the most--10% of his belongings... toys and clothing... All the rest have been bestowed upon us by our loving collection of friends and family... The toys that have truly turned our home into a playhouse... and the clothing... MY GOD THE CLOTHING. Honestly, we love it... so if you are reading this... please DO NOT STOP... But during the holidays... it does beg the question as parents... What to buy?... I turned to Mari @ Small for Big, a friend
When I sent out my request to help shop for the kids dear to you this holiday season, little did I realize Ry's response would be: "what do I get for the boy who has everything?" Hmm. That's one of those tough ones isn't it. And with the grandparents' tendencies to spoil kids rotten (we love it though, right?) I think the phenomenon is pretty common.
So, I thought I'd help her out with some of my favorites for a 2 year old boy who happens to like trucks, trains, blocks puzzles, and balls. There's something in every price range here - and some great things for girls too.
Magic Gertie Ball - Many parents already know the wonders of the easy to grasp, easy to inflate Gertie Ball. But the Magic Gertie is special - remember Hypercolor clothes in the 80's? It's baaaaaack. (This is much better than my HS choir teacher and his hypercolor shorts. Not Kidding.)Stacking Cone - An Act Two twist on the classic stacker - it's definitely harder than your standard version - for the puzzler side of Mr. Will.Billibo - A toy beyond explanations. Because it's creative potential is best unlocked by a kid (hat? Rocker? Pail? Sled? Something never seen before?) This one made Small for Big's theWANTlists this year.Dexterity Stellina Color Sorting Puzzle - Mr. Will can find hours of puzzling choices with this crazy star-shaped shape/size/color sorter.Douglas, from Monster Factory - Because every single monster at the Monster Factory is worthy of Mr. Will's love, but I could only pick one.Switchback Racetrack - A vertical way to get your fix of racing, crashing, and little boys' squealing.
Dalmation's Choice Fire Engine - The Cadillac (sorry, fire truck) of ride-ons. It's a retro classic to keep for the grandchildren. It has to be for that price.
Thanks Mari!--To follow up, en-route to our house via Santa's sled (PS did you know that if Santa actually went as fast as he would have to go to reach all the children of the world in one night, his sled would burst into flames? sorry.)...
- Billibo - I'm just so curious to see how Will approaches this thing...
- Dexterity Stellina Color Sorting Puzzle - He loves puzzles!...
- Switchback Racetrack - Hours of predictable fun...
- Douglas, from Monster Factory - Honestly... ALL FOR ME, ALL ME - do you think Douglas drinks? Kinda looks like a Patrón man... shots anyone?
Santa's sled in flames? You've been watching the SNL xmas show commercial haven't you?
Some of these toys hit the high-end of my usual price range (uh, the fire truck blew it out) but at Christmas time I think we're all looking for the big wow gift moment and are willing to spend a teensy bit more ... Glad you liked them!
SNL commercial!!! Damn you're good! THAT's where I got that from! Thank you! It was driving me crazy.. stuck in my subhead. Yes... I am THAT unoriginal.
Shit! I didn't know about Monster factory until now. Many thanks. Ugh. Now I want to have every single one of them. Did I say I? I mean my children... We are into Ugly Dolls. BUT these are even cuter... Oh no...
Douglas is mine.
We HAVE the Billibo (in cheery red)! I use it in a spinning fashion while my kids use it as a weapon. One of them also put it on their head and pretended to be a Star Wars Imperial guard,but that was only once. By the way, I found out I'm supposed to interview you (Neil, great interview experiment)! Was I supposed to tell you that? Oh well, even so I LOVE your blog so I'm super excited. Any questions you want to avoid?
I just bought it in red... hoping that our dog doesn't see it as some sort of threat... or water bowl. Is that you??! The NEIL experiment? Oh, now I'm excited. I contacted the person he told me to interview and she never replied... BOO!!! Maybe if I never hear from her I can return the favor and interview you.. completely throw a wrench into the whole system! Thanks for reading! As for avoidance questions... I'll let you know as we go... YAY! ask away.
I'm pretty sure I'm now in love with Douglas...
he is dreamy, right! I'm having drinks with him later so I'll put in a good word...
I always wondered what the Billibo was for. I can only imagine what my daughters would decide to do with it...
Oh, and the first one? Not sure why, but it reminds me of happy, fun ball from SNL. "Happy fun ball can stick to certain types of skin. Do not bounce, throw, roll, kick or otherwise play with happy fun ball."
The stacking cone looks awesome...that might be on my list for the girls. Nice list!
We've got that racetrack thing. It's pretty awesome.