Toys + Nostalgia = Granny-itis Hits Again

Toys have once again become a part of my life.  Not the teen type toys that my younger kids still have, or the Lego that never dies, but baby toys.  Toys like shape sorters and rattles and Duplo.  Teething rings that you put in the fridge which then leak anyway once your little one sinks their first pearly whites into them.  Teddies and other soft toys made of garishly coloured fabrics with incessant noises emanating from them at inopportune moments.  You know the ones – all you mums know the ones I’m talking about.

I had cleared most of the ones in our house about two years ago, when I finally admitted that we no longer had babies in the house, but now of course, we have our grandson, and the toys are quietly breeding whilst they are in the toy bag at night.  I swear that each time I tip them out; there are more in it than last time I looked.  I have no idea (honest!!!!) of where they are coming from, except for the occasional suspicious looking bag coming home from car boot sales or trips into town.  They are multiplying oh so very slowly but surely.

Last weekend, an attack of Granny-itis struck whilst we were out and a shape-sorter ball came home with us.  I felt a pang of nostalgia for the old Tupperware one that my kids had about twenty five years ago, and a pang of guilt for having shipped it off to a charity shop in the clear out two years ago.  Then a little later in the morning, I found one of these lovely toys with wire frames in board, onto which coloured wooden beads have been threaded.  It was accompanied by cries of ‘Mum look – I remember playing with one of these when I was little,’ and ‘Darling nephew would love one of these Mum!’  So I was powerless to resist, would you have been able to deprive such a great little chap of the chance to make the same memories that you and your kids have?

I admit it – I’m a sucker!  But I feel totally justified because the little man concerned loved them when he was here with us yesterday.  He got his uncles to play with the shape sorter for him – just to show him how to do it of course.  He pushed and pulled at the bead frame, then made eyes at his uncles till they showed him what to do with it.  They even went and found a few dinky cars for him to fill with dribble!  Aren’t they the best uncles ever!

I wonder if any of you other grandmas and mums out there have also been sucked in by nostalgia when buying toys?  Make a comment on this posting and share with us.