Sonny boy and toys.

A curious Sonny boy wondered aloud: Acha, when you were not born and Gandhiji was not born, and there were only dinosaurs, were there toys???

The last month or so, he has been in a tizzy of excitement over what toys he can possibly get for his B'day.
He's asked lots of people to come- everybody he sees almost. And he was overheard telling his Ammamma yesterday, with a wide grin- there is not even going to be place to SIT in the house! I wonder If I'm going to be the one to be surprised on his birthday!!

Given that these days everything spins in our house - the plate, the pen, the school book, the soap, himself!... the Beyblade is of course a must. I never thought I'd mourn the Ben 10 days, but I find that I do. At least Ben'd stay with the boys, and not intrude into the homespace.

And then there's something called a Piranha Panic. We have no idea what this is, except that this morning, the Acha had a nasty surprise when Sonny boy told him that he's promised to get him Piranha Panic for his B'day.
On being asked what it was, he gave a garbled version of fishes and piranha and bites and fishing lines..

Acha and Amma were totally befuddled.
Amma; Who else has it, Sonny boy?
Sonny boy: Nobody has it. I'm going to be the first to get it. *A big smile*
Acha: Where did you see this?
Sonny boy: The advertisement used to come on TV. On Cartoon Network, Acha. But now everybody knows about it, so it doesn't come any more.

LOL. He sure knows the basics of a media plan for sure.
But that means that we have to probabby google for what the Piranha Panic is.

This year, I've put a foot firmly down on any expensive toys for him, bearing in mind that he has ZILCH care or consideration for his toys. I try to make him put away his toys after playing, but then, our maid, who's of the old school, believes that I'm a cruel nag and tells me to not put the 'paapa Chinnu' to such distress and does the needful herself as much as she can.

And I've noticed that he enjoys games we can join in playing with him. So this year, we plan to give him a carrom board. Which is something that all of us can play. And also something that his friends can play when they come over. Its a tad noisier than the general board games of snakes and ladders and ludo and the like.
The Acha wrinkled his nose and said that a carrom board was not a BIRTHDAY gift. But then, I put my foot down. Why does a gift have to be expensive?? Seems to me that we're falling more and more into the trap of using money to make up for our lack of physical presence around Sonny boy. As a compromise, we also got him a cricket set.and now of course there will be this Piranha thing as well.

I'm always putting my foot down when the Acha discusses a particularly expensive gift. I keep telling him that when we were growing up, we considered ourselves lucky if we got more than one gift. And the gifts were mostly books which we enjoyed so much. He counters this telling me that its precisely because we didn't get it, that he wants to indulge Sonny boy.

We agree to disagree on this point. Its as much his son as its mine and he has a right to indulge him in ways he thinks fit. Mostly, on matters of discipline we share a common ground, though he is a way more indulgent parent.
And I'm quite often the no-parent. The one who's alway saying no.

Anyway I digress. So his B'day is on Feb 25th and he's been counting the days from the New Year onwards. I'm hoping that this year, he gets the toys he dreams about and he learns to value and take care of them.

I still have a big cardboard box of his toys left unopened after we shifted to our current house. Its been three years since we moved (!) and those toys are still awaiting deliverance. There are plenty of other toys that he's got since, that clutter the floor randomly at varying times of the day. And so I've been thinking that I'll donate those toys to an orphanage along with the old clothes that are another unopened box. Couple of boxes, cos they have mine and the Acha's too in addition to the BIL's (who was staying with us before we moved).

Sigh. I HAVE to clean up the house before partytime. And I SO don't have the time!

And YES! After ages of wanting to do so, I finally added some more names to my reading list. Dipali, you're the inspiration. I LOVED those pickled limes of yours.... :-)
The list is not complete by any means, but then, it'll never be, I guess....