Stuff.

There’s so much stuff that people can buy that are aimed at kids. I know that this sounds stupid as there’s a ton of stuff that anyone can buy, but I never really noticed it before.
Tara and I wanted to kill some time so we wandered into the Chapters kids section. We weren’t really looking for anything in particular, just stuff. And we found a ton of stuff.
Beyond books(which I’ll get to in a sec) we found games, toys, music and snow cone makers. Yes, the Snoopy Snow Cone Machine is still available. It’s awfully tempting 🙂
It’s a little overwhelming really. Mostly because you have to stop and think; what does he need and what’s just cool/cute? I don’t think there’s an easy answer for this.
I mean, does the little guy need the cute books? If so, which ones? Are there some better than others? Is Dr Zeus really all that and a bag of chips?
I know that, overall, there’s a little list in my head of books that I would like to get him. Mostly stuff I grew up on. And you know what? It’s all still available.
Alligator Pie
Winnie the Pooh
And a bunch of other books that I really can’t think of right now(boy, having a pen and paper would have been helpful at the time).
But those are a little advanced, so what baby books do I get? They don’t know English yet, so does it matter? I think Three Men and a Baby proved that all you need is the right voice and it could be the local paper you’re reading.
Do I get him things that I would like to read? I don’t generally read as much as I used to, so can I just read my books to him?
Probably not.
Odds are, I really don’t have to worry about this for another couple of years until he’s at the point of actually understanding that daddy cheaped out and is just reading the junk mail that came in that day.

And there’s always Lego. Beyond the basic kits, they’ve expanded into board games and these learning construciton kits. Sure, it’s still a ways off before Liam needs anything like that, but it’s an excuse to buy Lego 🙂

Then there’s the “Things that they really don’t need but are so super cute or look useful that Mom and Dad have to get it even though the baby wouldn’t know any different”
A lot falls into this category. Mostly the clothing part. I mean, the baby can hardly see colour let alone understanding shapes, but that didn’t stop me buying stuff with dragons or spaceships on them. Tara buys the cute animal things, I’m getting the nerd stuff. Tara says she has him for the first two years before I get to “nerd him up”. With my luck I’ll have overdone it and the kid won’t like anything I do.
But that’s ok. Really…*snif*

So yea, we’re in the stuff gathering stage. His room is pretty much done and now we just have to fill it.
Hopefully we stick to more *actual* useful things instead of “looked useful at the time” things.
I’m gonna fail there….

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Filed under: Blog - @ September 14, 2010 11:01 am