Why is it that we all feel compelled, on some level anyway, to compete with everyone else, especially when it comes to our children? Just about everyone I know who has kids, whether they are babies just beginning to crawl or toddlers or even preschoolers like mine, has this particular learning toy in their house. And I had seen it several times before, had been told about by therapists and teachers who thought it would appeal to our "spell boy" Xander, and I had even looked at it at the store.
But, for the most part, unless it's a birthday or holiday or really special occasion, we don't buy the kids toys. Trust me, we have enough grandparents and family and friends who love to do just that. Our house is overrun with toys right now, so much so that I actually turned our walk-in pantry in the kitchen into a toy closet with a few cleaning supplies tucked over on the side. We rotate toys every week or so, and can do so for months without seeing the same toys again. We have plenty of toys, learning or otherwise.
And yet, clearly, there it is. We are now proud owners of the fridge phonics learning toy. And it all came to be simply because I could not figure out what else to buy at Kohl's one afternoon. You see, we had received a free $10 Kohl's cash card in the mail for the fourth of July holiday sale. You could use it toward absolutely anything, on sale or not, with no strings attached. It was a $10 bill burning a hole in my pocket.
First, I looked for Connor some new tennis shoes for school this fall. He's a little hard on those, and his are almost a year old. The white is pretty much a dull grey no matter how much you try to clean them back up. No luck. Nothing in extra wide, which all of the boys need. Next I looked for a new pair of flip flops for either me or Josh (we have two pair of Adidas slip-ons that we wear all the time, and one pair is starting to tear on the side). No luck. Nothing in my size or his. Last, I went to look for some new pajamas for Connor because I wanted to pass his down to the twins (this was before I knew Grandma had already bought him some new ones). I found one pair I liked, but then there was the dilemma of how they would eventually pass down. You see, I like the twins to have similar (but not the same) clothes. It just makes my life easier (what with my mild case of OCD and all). So I put those back, too.
But there was the toy section, with lots of signs screaming SALE in big, bold letters. As much as half off most of the toys. And there it was, the last remaining box of fridge phonics. Half price. Minus the free $10 Kohl's cash. I only hesitated for a few seconds, then picked it up and started toward the cash registers. I was tired of shopping. Here was something that all three boys could enjoy with no size or pass-down issues. And it was going to cost me a whopping $4 and some change.
It was a big hit the next morning, when the boys came down and saw it stuck on the refrigerator. After the initial skirmish of each one trying to keep it all to himself, it has simply become a fixture in our kitchen. We are now just like every other house I know.
And all three of the boys do enjoy it, in their own way, of course. Connor loves any new toy, for a while at least. He likes to pull the talking part down and just press the buttons over and over again (to annoy us, we think). Sawyer likes to, of course, line up the letters in intricate patterns and rows on the refrigerator or even on the couch (he just pulls them all off - all 26 at the same time - and carries them over with him to his favorite spot to hoard them). And Xander, who I thought of most when I picked it up, loves it. He plays with it by putting letters into the talking part, to hear their sounds. He also organizes the letters into patterns and rows. And he also merely points at the letters, quite gleefully, and tells us what they are.
And that's the story of how Mommy caved to the peer pressure and ended up buying an annoying, talking toy that all three of her children love to torment her with. You know, because I didn't already have a walking spell boy wandering around the house saying letters to me every time I turn around.