My Life and Dreams

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

September 17, 2016- Toys and Childhood Fun

Mike seemed disappointed that I didn’t want to stay downstairs with him for longer. I was surprised and also touched when he said that he feels more depressed when I am not around. He wanted me to watch “The Incredible Hulk” and “Wonder Woman” with him but I really wasn’t interested.

I am kind of embarrassed that I would sometimes twirl around and wear cuff style bracelets on both arms trying to pretend to be her when I was a kid. I still have my Wonder Woman, Barbie and other dolls. I wish that I hadn’t gotten rid of many of my stuffed animal friends; I liked them much more than those.

I recently saw Snoopy Colorforms at a flea market and was tempted to buy that. I used to love playing with these. Play-Doh, Coloring Books and Crayola 64 box crayons (brick red and maroon were my favorites), colored pencils, pastels, Silly Putty, Magic 8-Ball, our board and other games, Mad Libs, Construct-o-Straws, and Mike’s Little-Van-Go (like a Fashion Plates for boys) were also lots of fun.

I still have the Etch-a-Sketch that Aunt Ann gave me. I was never really that good at it or drawing. I kept my sketchbook too. Mike and I did like using chalk to make sidewalk drawings sometimes.

We had the Fisher Price house, airport and barn. I liked the Family Tree House even more than these. We gave them to charity in the mid-1980s. One Christmas, our parent’s got Mike a Radio Flyer red wagon and me my first bicycle(with training wheels and a basket).

Mike lost his King Kong figure at the Bonanza restaurant in the mid-70s. He had Inspector Gadget, Mr. T, dinosaur, and He-Man figures in the 80s. We each had some Smurfs. I kept 4 or 5 of mine. The Rocky and Bullwinkle bendable figures were both of ours.

There was a box of toys that we would play with at Grandma’s farmhouse at Thanksgiving. I only remember 2 of them- the Pillsbury Dough Boy and a metal car (1950s?) We enjoyed playing auto bingo during the car rides there and elsewhere.

I had a Tomy Waterfuls game – a dolphin with rings. Our cousin Missy had 2 of these. We were a bit jealous of some of the toys that she had, including Don’t Spill the Beans, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, and Simon. I wasn’t that good at the latter though.

Toys were made much better in the 70s and 80s. I saw Care Bears in Target and they didn’t look as nice as the ones that we had/have. Same with the Cabbage Patch Kids, not that they were ever adorable. We still have 4 of these but used to have 8 or 9. I’m so glad that I kept my Pound Puppy, Chip.

My brother and I and our friend Kelly went to summer play camp at our town’s community center. We did ceramics and other crafts there. I made a small wishing well out of Popsicle sticks. We would glue macaroni/pasta in patterns on paper plates. I am pretty sure that glitter was a part of that. We might have done either pot holders or hot plates too- perhaps both.