HOW TO PLAY WITH TOYS

HOW TO PLAY WITH TOYS

 

There are toys of every size and shape for toddlers.  Most are designed by the toy maker with a specific purpose in mind.  Some are educational; some are for developing coordination, and some teach socialization.

It is very important that your toddler uses these toys as they were intended.  If you want your toddler to develop to his full potential, to learn his letters, colors, animals, to develop physically and learn social skills, it is very important that they play with all their toys the way the toy makers intended.

I cannot stress the importance of this enough!  Most toys come with instructions and pictures demonstrating how a toy is to be used.  Improper use of toys can slow your toddler’s development and even leave him (her) confused and frustrated.  Parents should always monitor their toddler and be sure that all toys are used correctly.  If necessary you may have to demonstrate to your toddler how to use a toy correctly.  

Cole and Connor have a wonderful toddler table.  It is intended for quiet play.  The surface is for coloring books or playing with blocks.  In the center of this table there is a circular sack that is perfect for holding crayons or blocks until the boys wish to use them.  This is the perfect place for the boys to learn to color and learn to build with their blocks.

 

 

Cole and Connor may need some guidance.

MINE EYES NOW SEE THE GLORY OF EVERYTHING!

MINE EYES NOW SEE THE GLORY OF EVERYTHING!

 

Fifty years ago I lost my hearing.  It was such a gradual event that I did not realize I had a problem until one night at the dinner table my dad reached out and wacked the back of my head, “Why won’t you answer me?”

I had no idea he was talking to me.  My hearing was gone in the left ear and none too good in the right.  I went to the doctor the next day.  Between my asking people, “What?” and people telling me to stop shouting for the last couple of weeks I should have known something was wrong.

The doctor took one look in my ears and said, “Wax.”

“WHAT?”

“YOU HAVE WAX.  THAT IS WHY YOU CAN’T HEAR.”

“I HAVE CASH, BUT I DON”T WANT A BEER.”

“NO….WAX.”

It turns out cleaning your ears with a cue tip is not always a good idea.  The doctor explained to me that the cue tip was kind of like a plunger compressing wax against the ear drum.  When a little water gets between the wax and the ear drum it is as if you are in a sound-proof room.

 

The doctor used a turkey baster like syringe and power washed the inside of my ears.  After several blasts, two ear plug like wax molds popped out of my ears (I know disgusting isn’t it.)  Freed from my sound-proof room I marveled at all the sounds I had forgotten existed.

I stepped out of the office and heard birds chirping…oh, I remember them.  I was fascinated that when cars went by on the highway they made a whooshing sound.  I had forgotten how loud water sounded against a shower curtain and it was amazing how loud my own voice was.  It is surprising that when you slowly lose a sense you don’t really miss it, but it is such a delight when you get that sense back.

I recently underwent cataract surgery on both my eyes.  My fogged over lenses were removed and replaced with new flexible adjusting lenses that were not only clean and clear but make wearing glasses an unnecessary requirement of the past.

As my eyes recovered from the surgery, it reminded me of my release from deafness those many years ago.  I had forgotten what white was.  I did not know that colors could be so bright or that shapes and print could be so crisp and sharp.  Did you know the speedometer in most cars shows speed not only in MPH, but inside the MPH, in tiny numbers, also displays the speed in KM?  I Know!

I never really missed bright colors or crisp sharp shapes and numbers, but I sure do appreciate them now.  I enjoy no longer requiring tri-focal glasses to read, watch TV or drive a car. 

I just need to get over the feeling that I am forgetting something whenever I go anywhere.  I have to stop pushing my non-existent glasses up over my nose and I have to quit adjusting the angle of my head to change my view through the non-existent tri-focal lenses.

One of the reasons healthcare is so expensive today is because they can now do really neat stuff like turning old eyes into new.        

Cranky's First Date

MY FIRST DATE

 

If first impressions are important, it is a wonder I have ever had a second date with a woman.  Mrs. Cranky will confirm that the first impression I give off is one of a clumsy, tongue tied, oblivious clod.  In actuality my real persona is only a little clod like.

I have always been a bit awkward with the ladies, right from my very first “date.”  My first date was at age thirteen with Sue R.  Sue R. was a petite extremely cute blonde with a budding personality.  Budding was the operative word for a hormone laden new teen.

Arranging this first date was an operation fraught with anxiety.  The family phone was in my parent’s bedroom.  To call a young lady you had to sneak into the room and dial quickly before a prying older brother caught you calling a girl.  If caught, the teasing would have been merciless. 

I called the very cute Miss Sue at least five times.  The first four I hung up because her brother, my brother’s best friend, answered the phone.  On the fifth try Mr. R. answered.

“Who is this and why do you keep calling and hanging up?”

“Um notme isSuethere?”

“Hmmm…whose calling?”

“Joe?  I mean Joe.”

“SUSIE, SOMEONE JOE FOR YOU ON THE PHONE.”

M U S T   C A T C H   M Y   B R E A T H!

“Hello.”

“HiSueit’sJoe…wouldyouliketogotoamovieorsomethingsometime?”

“WHAT?”

Deep breath. 

“Hi Sue, it’s Joe.  Would you like to go to a movie or something sometime?”

“Sure, when?”

“Oh I was thinking maybe Saturday?”

“Ok.”

“Okthenbye.”

The big date was that Saturday, at a theater the next town over so we would not run into any school friends.  It was a double feature, “Godzilla” and “Mothra.”  With these Japanese horror classics, surely love would be in the air.

Mom drove us to the theater and dropped us off.  Sue and I had already stolen a kiss behind the candy store after school so I was expecting some real action.  I entered the theater with high expectations.  I was quickly brought down to Earth.

My first suave move was purchasing the ticket.

“Two, under twelve please.” (Come on, it was 25 cents for under twelve, 35 cents for adult.)

“You’re not under twelve.”

“Yes we are.”

The cashier surveyed my “budding” young date and responded even more insistently, “No…no you are not.”

Reluctantly I handed over the full price of 70 cents.  The cashier informed me, “Be glad, under twelve has to sit in the kid’s section, I’m guessing you would rather be alone.”

We headed in, bought a 15 cent box of buttered popcorn and went to the adult section.  I was anticipating hand holding followed by a yawn and an over-the-shoulder arm move and maybe some discreet kissing.

Instead the usher demanded we move to the kid’s section.

“But I paid for an adult ticket.”

“This section is for 16 years old and above.  You guys are not 16.”

“But I paid full price…”

We were forced to sit in a crowded section of 10 year old kids. 

The indignity of it all; I still get riled up thinking about it.  I paid as an adult and got treated like a kid.  There was no hand holding, no arm move, no discreet kissing.  Surrounded by 10 year olds, it was just too embarrassing for words.

The date was not a total loss, “Godzilla” and “Mothra” were classics, and believe it or not the cute Sue R. and I dated for almost a year.  We progressed past the arm-over move but beyond that I will not kiss and tell (there wasn’t that much to tell.)  Then her family moved to Florida.

They say you always remember your first date, and as much as I try to forget, what they say is unfortunately too true.

Anyhow, the popcorn was good.