The Era of Buzz and Thomas

I never wanted my kids to be commercialized. There are a few isles in the toy store that I just can't stand to go down. But, through watching Toy Story II (the first one is scary with Sid and his dog, and those freaky toys) and PBS, James has fallen in love with all things Buzz and Thomas. What can you do when he LOVES it?

About six months ago James discovered a buzz figurine that he liked to play with. Most new toys are only really interesting for a few days, and then he only returns periodically to play with them. Not so with Buzz. Buzz has become much more permanent. James rarely goes anywhere without Buzz, and only sets him down for brief periods of time. He even has a special way of holding him, which has turned parts of Buzz yellow from the oils of his skin. Sometimes it is a problem because Buzz has limited James to one hand. Climbing at the park is much harder with Buzz. However he is handy for testing out slides. I always know when James is about to come down, because I can hear Buzz bumping down first. There was a while when James started carrying two Buzzes around; he even could fit them in one hand. But one of them disappeared mysteriously while he was sleeping one day (yes he takes Buzz to bed). He can even say something like "to infinity, and beyond" where he shoots Buzz up in the air as he says "and beyond." Every once in a while Marshall will show an interest in Buzz, sometimes he will get to hold him for a minute, and sometimes James gently takes Marshall's hand away. Marshall is the only one who gets such patient treatment. If you are interested you can play I spy and find all of the different pictures that Buzz appears in on this page.


Second only to Buzz is Thomas the Train. Though the show is rather simple, James loves it. And because he often wakes up at 5:30 in the morning, he gets to watch it often (while I lay on the couch until a decent hour). He even knows a few of the lines, and quotes them along with the movie. A few weeks ago we bought a small Thomas that makes a loop on a little track. He has had so much fun with this, even figuring out how to put the track together by himself. He loves to get close to the wheels and watch them turn as Thomas goes by. Just the other day I found a little train set for cheep at a second hand toy store. I was amazed how quick he figured out how to work things. He loves watching the trains go around and around. As with most things that he really loves, he gets really upset when things don't go as he wants, but as he learns to work it he gets less and less upset. I just need to stock up on batteries now.