Toy Extravaganza

You may recall that over the summer we visited people with children. Or, at least, child-adjacent.

• There were Bart and Tony's nephew and niece, who had fabulous construction-equipment toys.
  
• Then there were the beauteous Charlotte and Nora, who had all kinds of food toys, art toys, and doll-related toys.
  
• Then there were the Pink Sisters, whose toy collection rivaled Toys-R-Us and offered Iain a wonderland of choice.
• Even little Benjamin had fun stuff to play with. Stuff Iain did not have.
  

So we had to fix things. And we did. At IKEA.

First, we skipped over to the College Park, Maryland, IKEA and got him some stuff. But that was while we were in DC and we had limited trunk space.

Trunk space is no longer a problem. So yesterday we drove to Cincinnati (or, actually, West Chester, Ohio) and loaded up.

First, we got a toy chest and a sheepskin rug. You have to have a sheepskin rug or it just ain't fun. Oh, didn't I mention the train set? Yeah, we got him a train set, too. Oh, and a crane with a magnetic tip that lifts magnetic cylinders, triangles and cubes off a flatbed.


Then, we bought two shelving units (one below, the other is upstairs in his room), and a tent to go with his fabulous new tunnel. Today he took some calls in the tent.

• "Hello? Is this Professor X? It's the Pentagon calling."
• "This is Professor X's assistant, Professor H. Do you have an appointment?"
• "Ma'am, this is a national emergency! We need Professor X to save the day!"
• "I'm sorry, Mr. Gates, I'll have to ask you to hold."
• "Professor X here. Listen, Gates, you have to stop calling me every time there's a glitch in the space-time continuum. I'm engaged in Serious Research and cannot be disturbed! Oh, and tell the President I can't make lunch."
  

We also bought Iain an easel for use with chalk, markers, or paper. Of course, he doesn't have any chalk, markers, or crayons yet, because we're not crazy. But soon.

Oh, did I fail to mention the rocking horse? The stepping stool? The 3 potties (one for each bathroom!) (No, I'm not hallucinating. He's way too young. But we never get up to IKEA and Callie might need one soon. You have to be sensitive to the ladies' needs.)?

I figure we're in better shape, now, to provide something other than utter, despairing boredom. And since Iain still likes all his old toys (like his musical table, which has a new lease on life now that he can stand up, and his beeping dump truck), it's getting to be super-fun in here.