snowdeal.org > ex machina: the eric update - day 417 : The Never Ending Toy Struggle.

ex machina

the eric update - day 417 : The Never Ending Toy Struggle.

it began with Forbidden Foliage continued with the Incredible Interestingness of Power Supplies and Captivating Container Cupboards; it seems that the more determined we resolve ourselves to try and keep odin engaged in his "real" toys, the more determined he becomes in proving to us that those aren't really toys at all and are, in fact, boring artifacts that serve no purpose other than to occupy space and get in his way as he scrambles towards far more fascinating objects of his interest.

in addition to simply waving this toy and that toy in front of him and exclaiming "see! see! IT's A TOOOOOOOOY! fun!", we've also adopted the montessori technique of limiting the number of toys available by rotating sets of toys in and out of circulation. the theory being, i suppose, that he's not savvy enough to remember that the "new" toy is actually the same old toy that he played with a few weeks ago.

the results of an unofficial test of the efficacy of the ploy revealed that the "new" toys we unveiled today were able to deflect odin's attention from the remote control for exactly 32 seconds.

as if to mock my experiment, moments later odin sleuthed out a package of batteries which he found so profoundly interesting that it took no small amount of cajoling to convince him that dinner might possibly be more fun than removing and replacing the duracells from their packaging.

i kid you not that not more than two feet away lay a vast array of underused and unerappreciated "real" toys.

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8/25/2005 10:15:00 PM 3 comments

3 Comments:

We had that happen to us to, right around 14 or 15 months though "human toys" because regular stuff and her imagination and pretend play kicked into gear. now Magdalena will spend hours unloading her shopping cart and loading it back up, fixing pretend meals, and taking Elmo for stroller rides *in her pretend stroller*. :)

By Suzanne, at 1:45 PM

Big people toys are almost always five thousand times more fascinating than actual toys.

By Anonymous, at 10:44 PM

suzanne: " We had that happen to us to, right around 14 or 15 months though "human toys" because regular stuff and her imagination and pretend play kicked into gear."

that's interesting. i wonder if there's something to that theory. i know there's a lot of cognitive development around that time. i wonder if there's a fairly predictable jump in infant's imagining abilities?

By e3, at 2:08 PM

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“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”

the complete tales & poems of winnie the pooh

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this site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.

he's quite a fighter and you can always send him a postcard to the most current address listed here if you're inspired by his adventures. see the postcard project/google maps mashup to see a map of the postcards.

if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.

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