On Rocket Spaceships and Picnic Galore

As I've mentioned before we are not fond of buying toys for our little miss. But whatever toys Maia has, have all been put to good use. And I mean really used. Despite how ruggedly beaten up they may look now and some probably already missing a piece or two, Maia refused (and still refuses) to let them go. No matter how mad (albeit, faking) her dad would get at her, she would stubbornly hold on to her old torotots (trumpets), old party hats, old blocks, pieces from an old shape sorter, broken mechanical toy.

Yes, she probably took after me. Loving trash and holding on to them as if they were destined for greatness in this materialistic and commercialized world.

A couple of weeks ago, Tibs realized what these pieces of trash are to his daughter. And as the mother in me have always thought, she never indeed saw these old toys as trash. In her imaginative world, they became a spaceship and picnic accessories one delightful evening.

Daddy's Corner: Truckie from Trash

Yes, Maia is a girl. But we would like to teach our kid gender equality even at this early age, so we let her play with whatever kid-friendly toy she pleases. 

I guess my being a pack rat (and a lover for trash - no pun intended) has somehow rubbed on my husband that nowadays when he sees unused boxes he immediately thinks of making a toy out of it for Maia.

So today, as we were packing away Christmas decors and making some space to store our Christmas tree in our bedroom he found a small box that he thought would be great to make a truck out of. Maia is of course excited. Despite her being a girl, yes she's a big fan of Cars too. And there was a point in her babyhood when she loved watching all types of vehicles pass by. When we were having a hard time putting her to sleep, her dad would take her out to see the truckies and cars and come home with a baby quietly sleeping in his arms.

So anyways, from that 2 small boxes, 3 tissue paper rolls and a couple of metal fasteners he was able to come up with this:

Hey there, Mr. Truckie. You need a paint job!

Fasteners from my craft box. I knew they would come in handy!

The little girl is now busy playing with her truckie. She's so far transported some animals for her mini-zoo. And drove Hetty, Woody, her toy blocks around for (probably) some sight-seeing. She's refused to nap because she's just too busy playing tour guide to her 'friends'. 

can you see ms. elephant in there?

taking Hetty on a spin

Oh well, she does deserve more play time after recovering from her tummy flu so I just let her be. No nap equates to an early bedtime for us anyways so it's a win-win for me. 

How's your weekend going so far?