Let's Talk Gifts

Christmas is over. The tree is still flooded with gifts, although now they are open. We've played with them all for the last couple days and now I will tell you about them.

The Not so Good
Puddin Pop received two little play sets. One, a mini barbie castle, and the other is an underwater mermaid and sea life set. Both are pretty "cheap". The barbie thingy has clouds for barbie to ride in, but one won't stay in the top part and keeps falling off, also this toy makes music that we are all tired of listening to. The mermaid castle thingy looked great in the box. A mermaid lost her head while trying to get her out of the package, super glue got it back on but...I think this toy will get hours of play in the bath tub as I can't see any other fun function for it. If it's a tub toy, I won't have to continue to get frustrated that the mermaids won't sit at their vanity, no matter what position I put them in.

The Big Hits
Boogie's Nintendo DS has been enjoyable for all of us. It's a good thing he's sleeping in this morning, because his dad was up playing Super Mario all night and had he gotten up at his regular time, he would have probably been upset that his battery was dead.
Puddin Pop got a whole Potato Head Family. Big Potato heads with little ones inside, we've played with those for hours and even tried on a couple of smiles on ourselves. It comes in a supersized potato head to keep all the pieces together. This will get a ton of play since there are plenty of pieces for friends and family to play along.

The "What was I thinking?"
Baby Alive? In potty training mode? I should have thought this out better. Puddin Pop kept saying she wanted the baby that peed. I figured that since she's in the potty training phase herself it should be fun. I should have thought a little more. Right out of the box, we fed her, gave her a bottle, and her diaper leaked and she peed on my leg. I have a 5 year old who doesn't like public restrooms and has come home from school on occasion with poop in his pants (that's another post) and a 2.5 year old who refuses to poop anywhere but the potty (thank goodness) but loves to take off her clothes and pee on the furniture, behind the furniture, and anywhere that strikes her fancy, do I really need a third baby peeing and pooping for me to take care of? Sure, everyone wants to feed her, but no one wants to change her diaper, or clean the potty after she "goes" in it.
I think this doll would be perfect for the child (4 and up) of an expecting mother. Mother and child could go through all the feedings and diaper changes together. For us, everyone has been warned about waking the baby. We must get more diapers before anyone messes with her. She only came with 2 and 2 packets of food (that's not so bad) but she's had the same diaper on for days and no one is allowed to touch her, and definitely not allowed to give her a bottle, until we get more diapers. I'm not sure when I'll get around to that.