Plastic Christmas Toy Deathwatch 2

Today it was the barn-style shape-sorter. One of the swinging doors just came away in Hurricanehead's hand. I snapped it back in place (although it wasn't a very snappy-feeling snap) to no avail. Within seconds it had slithered loose again, prompting an angry shout from the baby, who then threw it to the floor and forgot about it. Baby as metaphor for America's consumer culture?

This leaves, by my count, only 50% of the received plastic Christmas toys still functioning properly. Four to go. Which will be the ultimate survivor?

Happy New Year, y'all.

Dogzilla

These are, to the best of our recollection and knowledge, the items that our Lab pup has chewed, ingested, destroyed or abused since her arrival in our lives three months ago. Not that we would trade her for the world.

100-foot long power-tool extension cord

glass gazing ball

solar landscape lights (3)

two leashes, collar and long line

water bowl

food dish

carpets

two garden hoses

two tennis balls

all paperboard and weed cloth under mulch in vegetable beds

sidewalk chalk

wool blanket

padded crate liner

lava rocks

one outdoor baby swing and ropes that held it up

baby quilt

hose adapters

faucet insulators

various birds

several bags of garbage

fence

shrubs

Atlanta Black Crackers cap

two foam rockets

life vest

three pairs of shoes

six large bags of mulch

assorted gloves

sweatshirt, towel and other items stolen from clothesline

countless clothespins

part of ponytail palm tree

dozen or so plastic 1-gallon nursery pots

shower curtain

multiple grocery bags

soda bottles

smattering of sand toys

mop bucket

Legos

My experience and that of others leads me to believe that Dogzilla will outgrow this behavior by the time she's around two years old. Fifteen months to go. Now I understand why my dad named our first Lab Sherman. He probably really did destroy everything in his path.

Plastic Christmas Toy Deathwatch

I hate it when my kids get plastic toys as gifts because I know that disappointment is close at hand.

Three down. The first to die was a plastic adventurer tool with a compass, magnifier, mirror, and other handy tools. Too bad it shattered into its component parts the first time it slipped out of Rocketboy's hand in the kitchen. The snap-together race-car track was next, as the wires to the car controllers apparently snapped or came loose inside the controller housing (molded shut, of course). And this morning the animatronic band of pastel animals that adorns Hurricanehead's toy piano (which, oddly, will play This Old Man but won't hold a note for four beats) gave up its little dance contest, much to Hurricanehead's disappointment.

I like toys as much as the next primate, but it saddens me to think of all the resources, effort and money that goes into the creation of things that give out as soon as they are given. When I'm less fluish, I'd love to put together a list of good cheap ideas for durable, enjoyable toys and gifts for kids, along with ways to tactfully get these alternatives in front of the plastic toy givers. Any ideas?

Tsunami

The news grows worse by the hour and likely will for some time. Help. Rockethead, age 5, says 'Please donate.' As a parent who has lost a child, I ache when I read about those parents whose children were torn from their arms by the sea. Their lives are now fractured into before and after, and after is damned hard.

Bienvenidos!

Now I know what it takes to get me to start my own blog: the flu. Waylaid and unable to maintain my normal routine of herding kids and dog around the property, I am forced to live the life of the mind, ill as that mind may be at the moment. So perhaps I should thank the powers that be for flubbing the flu shot program this season. Although any readers may not.

Redneck Mother is all about organic gardening, parenting, homeschooling, and that most peculiar of conditions, being a liberal in Texas. To me these are all part of the same goal, which is to raise well adjusted critical thinkers in a healthy, sustainable way.

First of course, I have to get this virus out of my system.

Buen provecho!