Toys, Games, Books, or Clothes

It has been about twenty-eight months since I have had the luxury of becoming a grandfather. What makes it even more special is my first grandchild was born on my birthday. I can still remember what it was like to witness the birth of my sons and holding them for the first time, but a grandchild is a totally different feeling. It is almost overwhelming as so many thoughts and memories go rushing through your mind. Then it hits you like a ton of bricks…"I’m a grandfather!”

In my mind, I still feel the same, but when I see my grandchildren it is a reminder just how old I have gotten. It is however, a breath of fresh air to watch them grow and change right before your eyes. Their smiles, laughter, and expressions are so pure and genuine. The emotional connection is incredible when you get a big hug.

The challenge becomes what in the world do you get a grandchild for a birthday or Christmas gift. How do you begin to fully understand what is age appropriate? Do you get a fun toy, educational learning toy, game, or a book?

My first grandchild make the decision fairly easy as he has a passion for trash trucks. He stands at his bedroom window on trash day to see the trash trucks as they make their way down his street picking up all the trash cans. What I found so special is that his bedroom had to be the one where he could see the trash trucks from his window. He recognizes the sounds and loves to watch the trucks crush all the trash. If you were to look into his room or almost every room in his house, you would see some type of trash truck toy. Some are small and some he can actually sit on. I wonder if he will ever grow out of this phase. Until then… trash trucks are king!

One of the crazing things these days is how addicted everyone is about taking photographs and videos of everything imaginable. Not only does everyone use their phone for all this, but they feel obligated to share it. The data is filling up the storage on people’s phones. What in the world is going to happen to all this data? On the plus side, I get to see almost on a daily basis photographs and videos of my grandchildren. Some of this content is just so funny. Of course, I often find myself sharing some photographs and videos too.

Seeing how my grandson loves trash trucks, I felt inspired to come up with something special to capture his imagination. I decided to photo edit a photograph of his face and another photograph of a toy trash truck. I carefully position his face in the drivers seat inside the trash truck so it appeared he was driving. I would have liked to see his expression when he saw it. Have to wonder if he even recognized himself in the photograph driving the trash truck.

If I was even more clever like his grandmother, I would have taken this one step further and placed the photograph on a T-Shirt for him. When she sent a copy of him wearing the T-Shirt it brought a smile to my heart.

Whatever might be your situation in terms of buying gifts for your kids or grandchildren, I can highly recommend finding a local toy store where there is a helpful staff that can guide you through the selection process. It is so hard to know what to buy. The last thing you want to do is buy a toy that is of no interest or value to the child. Encourage you to support a local store rather than doing a search on Amazon. You and the child will be much happier.

My favorite local toy store is Mud Puddle Toys located at 1 Pleasant Street Marblehead, MA 01945. They have a wonderful selection of unique toys, games, and books. What makes them special is how their team will guide you through the selection process of choosing the “best fitting” products. They certainly have come to the rescue on many of my occasions.

Encourage you to visit their website for more information:

mudpuddletoys.com