Today was the random rotate the toys day. After this last round of holidays and birthdays, the kids had amassed so much stuff that we decided not to keep it all out at once. It was in danger of taking over the whole first floor, and Mommy likes a little more order than that. So we keep about half of them in the pantry, and rotate them around from time to time. We even, occasionally, dig into the attic storage for the even older toys, when we get desperate.
And today the kids were bored. Mommy was bored. And since it's been a while since we've switched things up, today seemed as good as any. Especially since there were no more wonderful naps today. And I was tired of lining up Little People and being asked to make the tractors and trailers "work" together again, even though the boys either broke or lost the pieces that make them work a long time ago.
Sometimes, you just have to wonder what toy engineers are thinking when they come up with some of this stuff. Toy piano, it sounds simple enough. This is actually an older picture of it, and it has a bit more wear and tear since this time last year, but it didn't manage to stay out long enough today to get a new picture. Do you see anything wrong with the design? Namely the flimsy stand that comes with the piano? Now, I'll grant you, it probably has said design to make for easier storage. It comes apart into five pieces (the two yellow side pieces and three purple bars like the one you can see). It will, once deconstructed, store very easily.
And my boys, well they're very good at deconstructing it. Even after it's been super glued together, multiple times. You see, they love those purple bars. They make good sticks - you can beat things, like your brothers, with them. You can also bang them onto furniture, like say the pool table, and make a rather loud and annoying racket. Sound fun? Mommy didn't think so either, so back into the pantry it went, after all of maybe 15 minutes of daylight.
And I simply have to ask again, who designs these things anyway?