Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2008 June 3

(3) Tue Jun 03 2008 15:22 Old School is New Again: Today I got out some of my old toys for Maggie to play with. Aside from three Piglets, a rolling piggybank (from Toy Story), a troll and a dino troll, I saved 5 My Little Ponies. (Maggie just came in carrying all three of the Piglets.) Per their bum tattoos, I've got Baby Mobilie, Christmas Stockingie (sent away for this with cereal box UPCs), Birthday Cakie (unicorn), Wormie (unicorn), and Braidie (her head twists, pulling in her tail, which you can then yank out again). Braidie is the only "adult" I saved.

Rachel and I had quite the collection of My Little Ponies back in the day. She had a male with a cowboy hat, and I got a My Little Pony birthday party set from Santa one year - I specifically remember plastic cake pieces with candles. We also had some "teenage" ponies with clear plastic wings that you could make flutter. Leonard was not ashamed to play My Little Ponies with us either, although I specifically recall him being Evil Pony.

Ponies these days have much more exciting toys. Ember got a Carnival for Christmas last year with a carousel, etc. The Ponies themselves are not any more exciting. Will they ever run out of bum tattoo ideas? I mean, 20 years ago I got one with worms on it, that is pretty bottom-of-the-barrel.

I was reading last night in a parenting book that "learning" toys do all the work for kids and they like creative play. This is why young children are often more interested in the box a toy came in. A lot of kids lose some of this creative interest and ability as they get older, from having toys do all the creative work for them I guess. Yay for My Little Ponies and creative play.

(1) Tue Jun 03 2008 19:11 No TV Allowed: John and I noticed this week how little TV we've been watching. The weather is nice so we've been taking walks and working in the yard, and we've also both been reading a lot. I've read over 9000 pages so far this year, just passing the total amount I read in 2007.

Maggie still watches The Wiggles every chance she gets, but since I've moved the computer upstairs, that isn't too often. She is becoming a little bookworm herself and has developed a cute habit of "backing up" from her book basket to a lap, where she can sit and read comfortably.