Then again, movies make a swell gift. I must admit, I got a laugh wrapping this in Disney paper-like I've comitted some sort of heresy. In case you're wondering (I'm sure you are) I bought Danny the dubbed version because although he can read fairly well, subtitles is asking a lot of a five year old.
Vintage board games are nice too.
Before you assume I'm the world's cruelest parent, let me assure you he is not going without toys and enjoyable gifts. For Christmas I bought Danny a Thomas The Tank Engine flashlight, snowshoes, story tapes, playing cards, and a vintage light-brite knock-off I found for three bucks. For his Birthday, Danny is getting my microscope (supervised use only, of course), a recorder (instrument) bongo drums (yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either) and a tambourine. He's also getting some movies. Hanukkah, we stick to small gifts-two yo-yo's (yes, they were mine and yes, they are real Duncan yo-yo's), some light-up lollipops, stickers, a set of pick-up-sticks, and a mancala set. So here's the fun part-everything (granted, some of it was mine as a child) including the er...gently used wrapping paper, came in around twenty bucks. The flashlight was the most expensive item. I'm a firm believer in buying things when you see them, and then hiding them in the attic. I have some sturdy metal shelving upstairs (where Danny is not allowed) where I keep my sorted toys, learning materials, etc. I'm never without a gift for Danny or anyone else, really. I also detest holiday shopping, malls and the like.
Now I have two weeks to focus on the birthday cake.
I had 2 or 3 old LPs of Hanukkah songs for children, but I just went searching the house for them the past few days and can't find them now. I just found a way to record them into computer sound files and was gonna mail you a resulting CD, but as I said I can't find the LPs. So, oh well. Sorry. I had these for a couple-three years, just waiting for me to catch up to technology... ah well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for thinking of us anyway. Did you buy one of those record players that burns cd's? We've been looking at those, but $100. is a bit steep for our budget. I'm curious how well they work.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Danny would just want us to record 70's arena rock for him. I know, I know. Taste is subjective.
No, I realized that since I'm the only person at the radio station for a few hours on Sundays, I can switch on the old turntable in one of the production rooms and record the LP. Agh.. I really can't remember what I did with those darned LPs. Nuts!!
ReplyDeleteoh, and RE the "USB turntables," no, I don't have one but want one. I have BOXES of LPs (BTW, I looked for the Hanukkah LPs in EVERY box). I heard that they're imperfect, but that's probably nitpicking by those audiophiles.
ReplyDeleteAw gosh, don't feel bad, I haven't been able to find half my things since we moved, and that was nine years ago.
ReplyDeleteAbout the nitpicking:
I never could here the alleged problems others did with CD's. Then again, (seriously) I'm part deaf-and it only got worse after Danny was born as I developed pregnancy related hearing loss. For reals, I'm not making that up. So really, any imperfections in the technology would probably sail right past my hearing.
On the other hand, once kids get to the whiny, complaining "I"m bored, there's nothing to do" stage, not being able to hear well is sort of like a blessing.