Bella and Edward stare lovingly into each others eyes
One of the perks of being a parent is that you go from being the weirdo that collects dolls and legos to being able to mask your obsession because you have children. No one questions the reason why your house looks like Toys R Us — you have kids.
As an adult before children, I tried not to indulge in my impulse to buy toys. I masked it. I remember being in my early twenties and wanting so much to buy a Barbie — to feel the way I did when I was 12. There was such magic in getting a new doll, opening up the package and playing with all the clothes and shoes. Instead, I played Sims. Sims is the video equivalent of playing doll house — no offense to gamers out there. I don’t play Sims any more because I have a real family that takes up my time. I don’t have to wait for a bubble to appear above my child’s head or check their status bar to know they have to use the bathroom. I’ll smell it. It’s much more fun, I swear.
This Christmas, my husband and I went totally overboard. I finally had an excuse to buy toys. Sure, my daughter is only 16 months but wouldn’t she just love a Cabbage Patch Doll? “She will eventually,” I tell myself. My husband went crazy with the Lego sets. My son does like the large Legos, but I think his daddy likes them a little bit more.
Playing with Twilight dolls
For my birthday and Christmas, my family indulged me. Instead of being the newlyweds that needed hand towels and appliances, we are now the whimsically fun couple with kids. My mom bought me a set of Barbies from the Twilight series. My husband bought me a Muppet Whatnot for my birthday and the Muppet Movie soundtrack.
I’ve been having so much fun. I can sing and dance Disney tunes without shame. I put on impromptu puppet shows “for the kids.” I let my children play with the Twilight dolls, just so I could take them out of the package and play too. My husband and I spend many an evening putting together the Lego sets he got for Christmas. We watch kids’ movies, even after the kids go to bed.
“What would you like to watch, honey?”
“Kung Fu Panda 2! I heard it was even better than the first one!”
No longer are we closet toy fanatics. I encourage you to let out your inner child. If you could buy a toy for yourself to play without feeling like you are breaking some kind of anti-grown up code of conduct, what would it be?
For this very reason I got Bella an electronic drum set. It’s in the parlor with the rest of the instruments. I don’t know who loves it more! LOL
Love this post, yes I’m a toy fanatic too, think american girl! the nice thing about our old house was that I could hide my collection (that was “really” for a future daugter-who am I kidding!?) in the attic where i could go clean up (ahem play) in my own little world. Dan also wanted me to point out that the status bar makes it easier to catch the potty need before they explode on the floor.
LOL! I can’t believe you got the Twilight dolls!! I’ve never been one to get toys, even when I was a kid I wasn’t into them. So you’ll have to help me figure out what my baby will need!
My DH had a collection of toys he had kept from when he was a kid. Some of them still in the packages. We finally got the box out when we moved and pulled out a few for our boys to play with. Mostly superhero action figures.