Taking the Scenic Route

Now for the question all of Santa’s helpers stuggle with this time of year…what to get our little angels for Christmas, because grandmas and grandpas are going to be asking soon.

The “big” gift is the one we are trying to decide on for Zane.  It is narrowed down to “Kitchen” and “Dollhouse” right now.  Both things he seems to enjoy at the therapist and offer a lot of opportunity for social skills work.  We are leaning towards a doll house though, since we have a real kitchen to mess around in and the doll house seems like it would provide more varied play and grow with us.

Now, try to find a doll house that is appropriate for boys.  The are all so…..pink.  ugh.  I considered, briefly, getting him one of those tree house things, but I can see serious potential for it being used as a stepping stool instead.  I did find a really beautiful dollhouse, but it would cost more than our car to get all the pieces for it.  lol. 

Then, much to my delight, I ran across the one that he was so excited about at the Day Camp this summer.  He was playing with it every day when I came to pick him up and he cried when I pulled him away from it.  It is from plan toys, a company who’s toys I really like,  and it looks really nice.  It is simple enough that I wouldn’t get tired of looking at it all the time, but complex enough to really have a lot of potential for long-term playing.  It will also be something that Zora can grow into, so now would be a good time to get it.  It is also big enough that two kids, theoretically, can play with it at the same time.  (or, if all else fails, you can take the basement off and have “two” houses)  It also has some neat accessories besides the basics shown here. And, none of it is plastic.  yeah!  One of the things I found sort of cool about this particular set of furniture (there are three different sets, as far as I can tell) is that they substitued an office set with a computer for the kid’s bedroom set…so the family, apparently, co-sleeps and spends time on the computer.  lol (I can buy a kid’s bedroom set from one of the other collections if I want to)

The dolls for it are sweet too. They have several families I like.  Even though I doubt I will get the Magic Cabin because of price (well, at least not right now), they has dolls that are the same size in various themes.  They are really cool.  I really like the Modern family instead of the plan ones because it resembles our family a bit more.  And, for your drooling pleasure, Magic Cabin also has a pioneer family and log cabin that is to.die.for cute.  If I was buying for *me* that is definatly the set I would get.  Hands down.  Maybe I can get Zora into “Little House on the Prarie” enough that I *have* to buy it for her.  lol.  (Hey, I don’t think it is coincidence that Zane loves Nintendo, just like daddy.)

The other “big” toy set that is in contention, is the Plan Toy’s car set.  It would work well with his Thomas stuff, and we really like it a LOT, but we are probably not going to get it right now because it is similar to his Thomas set, just with cars instead of trains.  (where the doll house is a whole new type of toy)  We might get some of the accessories…like the traffic signs and trees.  I know Zach is really eyeing the parking garage, but I am not sure.

Isn’t it odd.  As a kid I never considered my parents where dreaming about Christmas as much as I was.  The only thing is, parents have to move from dreaming about what they want, to figuring out what they actually can get.  That is the hard part.