Jan 2008 - I´m 3 and I own the world

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

It was getting desperate and since MrsMCJnr suggestion came in last and I was being lazy I just went for that - hope that is ok.

JKS One of Nathan's favourite phrases is 'go there' together with 'sit down' and 'sit there'. If dh leaves the table to run up and check his diary Nathan will start muttering that daddy needs to come back and sit DOWN.

I have now checked....yes, we have a load of these - I assume that this would be because PILs bought the animals for our elc farm from there at the same time. I much prefer them to the more cartoony figures that have come with other toysets but am quite at the prices.

Can anyone advise on dollshouses please? I know that some of you spent ages researching and buying a while ago, and T has now grown out of the baby one I got her when she was 22 mo and is asking for a big girl one like some of her friends have.....

I'm going to hold off until her birthday at the end of Jan, rather than getting it for xmas/chanukah, so can wait for the sales, but all advice on brands/where to buy/pricing etc would be appreciated :)

Filly - PMSL was just about to come on here and ask people what they were getting their DC for Xmas myself!!!

I have bought (today) J a bunky light which is esp for bunk beds and will order him some roller blades from argos (£20)

Am going to get M a girls world and I need another pressie for about £20 which is not girlie Any ideas???

On the animals front?? Does anyone remember J's obsession with wolves??? he still loves his plastic (schliegh) wolf

Oh on the dolls house front M has one from studio24 (which was reduced at the time, I love a bargain!!) Its all wooden and has her name ingraved on the roof.

My frind has the one from elc which is truely fab and better than M's but quite £££ as you buy the dolls house then have to buy the furniture seperately iyswim whereas M's was all included

We bought this one from Toy r Us. It is really nice though has lots of small bits not suitable for Mia. I took lots out and will be good add on for S when she's older. There's still lots of suitable furniture. It's a real hit with anyone who comes to the house. not so much with S. It's more of a once in a while toy. Danny loves it, so Mia Might!

Toys r Us have a 3 for 2 on toys so you might have luck finding something for Ari.

She's getting this for Christmas which I know she'll adore as she's got a baby version of something similar which she uses all the time. We caught her singing into a window wiper yesterday making up songs by herself. They lyrics we caught were one song that went, 'Some of them move a little bit quickly. Some of them are smaller.' And another that went, 'It's not faaaaaairrrr'. Rofl.

I'm a bit stuck for her birthday. She plays with trains a lot at school but I'm not sure she would here.

BTW DH spies on her through the window at school and often she is preteding to be me, doing he washing and showing others how to (both my children love to peg!) so that blows my hidden tomboy theory out of the water.

LaT - i like that dolls house - have saved the bookmark for the future, when do you think is the youngest M could have it? 1st birthday or next Christmas (1.5)? (with some bits taken out like you have done)

For T I'm thinking along the lines of a toy castle (but not sure yet as it breaks my 'rule' of nothing big) and some transformers things - but again not sure what is out there to buy, not getting any more lego or playmobil for a while if i can help it, we have loads of tiny bits. So want something that actually 'transforms' as he got one small one for his birthday that doesn't really change tbh, it still looks mostly like atruck when it's meant to be a robot, and the ones on tv looks much cooler

Otherwise, i'm trying to adjust my thinking to not necessarily getting something long-lived or worthwhile, just go with the flow and let him have plastic tat that may fall apart, but hey, he'll love it while it lasts, who am I to deny him of the true Christmas experience

H i'm totally stuck on, well i still have a big bag of 2nd hand cars upstairs from a huge ebay bundle i bought years ago (and made my money back by selling some duplicates!) so he can have those as he's majorly into vehicles and has chewed some of ours into a terrible state. Other than that, who knows?

And, M, well, maybe a doll and some clothes :)

M napping in her cot so i should be doing something more valuable than catching up on MN....

OMG, just looked at your link and am ...I had a (smaller) dolls house that I played with until I was about 9, with exactly the same pieces....I totally remember the wooden wine cups, plates etc...

Bonkers

Filly

Wow toys are great. Big and small. we have the camper van and its fab. I'm thinking of getting D the racing car. I really want the recovery truck but I think I'll wait a bit. I know Madmouse rates them too. Remember Nathan's yellow bus?

I remember that bag of cars and the wolf too!

As for the dolls house, I would wait unti M is walking as otherwise little ones tend to pull themselves up on it and balance on the doors. The hinges are not that sturdy. Otherwise, with bits removed I don't see that you have to wait until 3. Also, if you do get it anyone, build it the night before because it does take a long time.

I see we are all sorting out Christmas early! With two now and Sabela's birthday and Reyes on the 6th of January, I really have to pace the spending. I am also dismayed at the amount of toddlers and siblings there are to buy for now with family and friends. Some I have just agreed to do birthdays with.

Yep, yellow bus, combine harvester, tractor and trailer, boat and divers.....

JKS - I bought this castle for A nearly 2 years ago now. It was £24.99 (still is at the moment) and packs up quite small into a box under his bed when he isnt playing with it. I went down exactly your route - accepting the inevitable cheap-and-cheerful-might-not-last-long position (also didn't want to buy a 'big' gift). It has lasted surprisingly well, he's had plenty of play value out of it, but equally I don't get fussed if it doesn't come out for 4 months at a time.

Transformers, on the other hand....well........are stupidly expensive; none of them 'do' anything interesting & none of them are as cool as the adverts; the ones that a 6yr old can convert on their own look like shit, and the ones that go from a racing car to a robot take a degree in bio-mechanics to change, and always lose their bits as the guns etc don't stay in well. Leading to tears and tantrums and (again) limited play value. A has 7 or 8 Tranformers, of various levels, and barely plays with any of them - we stopped buying them a while back, these were gifts from friends/family. DH is heartbroken as he had all of them as a kid (parents owned a toy shop [jealous]) but even he thinks the modern ones are shite....

On the dolls-house for Mary front, can I suggest this one? We gave this to T, with all the pieces, at 22 months, and she has played with it solidly for nearly 2 years :) Again, £24.99, so a reasonable amount to spend...

Of course I remember Nathans yellow bus

Mia is very into all the cars and trucks we have around the house, but we do already have loads.....she's also becoming quite attached to T's dolls, so I may get her her 'own' doll for channukah :)

Oh, and in the big news of the day.....Mia is now walking!! Hurrah! She's been toddling a bit for ages, and has never really crawled, but she is now properly walking around....so, at 15 months, the youngest of my dcs to crack it, and nearly a full 12 months ahead of Tamara! Weird, huh?!

Oh, and the other big bit of news in the Filly-household this weekend...

We finally (finally!) exchanged....so it looks like we really are going to be moving. Although not until Feb 2012!

Dcs are already very excited about the whole getting-a-dog possibilities.....

(as am I....)

fab news on the house filly

I know exactly what you mean by transformers, luckily J is not really into them (seems more into power rangers and playmobil)

He got one for his 6th birthday though and it looks virtually impossible to "transform" it iyswim

Have decided I am going to get M a little bike for Xmas (argos do a cheap one, and its not pink

Can Tamara pedal a bike?? M seems to be really struggling, its like she does not have the strength in her legs iyswim.

Forgot to say M seems to be settling in well at nursery school but already we are having "she said I'm not her best friend anymore" etc

The problem is that M has a lot of friends who have been going to the nursery since Jan who she knows v well but they are all used to playing with each other.

Her other "best" friend cannot join properly until the borough get their act together and get the diabetic nurse in to train the teachers

Ah, Simpson - just wait until she's the big girl (as S is now). She'll be cock of the walk. And then she'll go to big school....

All's well here. Stepmother here which is why I'm not on much. The kids have made friends with next door's siamese kitten. they all appear to adore each other. I'm feeling a bit bad for her next door and have said it's definitely not to be fed or watered and not allowed int he house. They play for AAAAAAAges though. And the owner says it's fine.

Ah all the talk of Christmas, Channukah, Reyes, Birthdays!

We normally go for a book and pjs for all on Christmas Eve followed by one biggish pressie from us and a couple of small things to open at my mums along with the rest of the families gifts. This year:

S - telescope (completely obsessed with Space since it was his topic in Janauary and he is still reading about it, watching everything. Also picked up for £6 of that series The Universe (for adults but he was watching at my mums and really into it - we can happily watch it together too).

E - Garage and loads of cars. He plays with this constantly when we go to a friends, very basic really but they are both great at imaginative play so I think he will get hours out of it. I would like to go down the castle route but they arent embracing the knights and drgaon thing that I keep trying to instill. E also picked out a Knights book at the British Museum the other week which I didnt let him get so maybe this too.

Em - JKS I just have no idea. He will be 9 months and I am thinking a play table or a baby gym that converts for sitting/standing etc. IO have told everyone else clothes as I am terrible for just using babygros.

Birthdays - currently very little idea,a lthough E has asked to go horseriding so maybe something horsey.

Mixedmama - I can highly recommend those Playskool ball popping toys. We got one for d when he was 6 months (supposedto be for 9 months) and we're still all enjoying it. we got this one half price but I wouldn't have minded paying the full anount given the amount of play we've had.

Thanks laTrucha. That looks very cool, I expect E will enjoy that too actually.

Saw www.amazon.co.uk/Melissa-Doug-Fold-Go-Castle/dp/B0028RH8B2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1317633687&sr=8-3 this castle in the local toyshop today and thought of you. Small, resonable price but good.

And this

Also this doll's house. The do a girly castle too. And a farm.

And this, which is just too cute.

Are you shopping??? Thanks have bookmarked on my amazon page.

I was . I took the chance to go to the local toyshop while S was at school and D asleep.

Was it JKS looking for a castle?

I love having LaT to do all my shopping for me :) :) :)

Umm....ladies, I don't normally come over all soppy and emotional, but can I please ask you to take a look over here for a moment?

Still thinking about dolls houses. But that's for T's birthday. And I forgot we normally keep pjs for chanukkah presents, so when I came across the luvverly White Company pjs I bought in last year's sales for A & T in a drawer 2 weeks ago, I just handed them out on the spot...

Books will feature heavily, I think....

Aww Filly you soppy old thing :)

LaT - thanks so much for those links, can't decide which castle to go for now, will show links to DH tomorrow maybe and try and decide. Plus the dolls houses are fab - excessive for M this Christmas though right?

She's currently holding her toes making lots of noise

I have heeded advice re Transformers, i think i will stick to the kind he already has one of, they don't look great when transformed but are at least easy to do.

If anyone has a Sports Direct nearby, they have some fun glow in the dark stuff v cheap atm, bracelets, necklaces, etc. got one for T - not sure about H as think he will eat it!

We started the pjs thing a few years ago thanks to MN, must keep an eye out for some nice ones for this year, may look at the White Company or in JL next time i'm there.

right must go and get T - Tues is manic day here, PE, swimming after school & try to get out to orchestra after DC are in bed.
But bonus, have DH at home the next couple of days so may get some jobs done round the house, finally!

Thanks Filly. [bush] at shopping tips. Deep down, I'm very superficial, as Ava Gardner once said.

I have just sat S in front of the TV (I am usually trying to get her away from it) as we have made sea monster cards, done cutting, made a TV out of a cardboard box complete with remote and buttons, printing and now she wants to paint! That's just the last hour...

I need your tips on garages now. Took D to toyshop today and they had one out to play with and he was in paradise. It wasn't one they had for sale though, so now I don't know.

Oh. And S wants a doll that poos. Suggestions?

Ok. I get the point about the shopping.

But is she going to clean up the poo?!

We have a Little People garage, bought for T's 1st birthday (4 years ago), it's lasted well but i wouldn't totally recommend it, it mostly gathers dust.
I think i'd prefer a wooden one if i was buying again.

Oh yes. She's very keen. The girl likes to clean.

Hmm. It was a little people one she was playing with.