Being the "frugal" mom I am, I picked up quite a few used toys at this terrific St Vincent's Thrift store in SOH before we moved (oh I really really miss that place). The trouble with picking up toys in a thrift store is you are not always aware of the completeness of the items if they are bagged or boxed. Though I managed quite a few quality scores, I also had a couple of duds. I bought one indoor tent and realized when I got home it didn't have any poles and were unable to easily configure something. Hey, it was only a buck so how can you go wrong? Luckily for me (and H), he received one for his birthday last year and the other one has been relegated to a closet somewhere in case we need a backup. The second obvious item is a little more on the fence. I picked up a railroad track and train by Playschool circa 1994. Whenever I pick up used toys, I try to find one online so I can figure out how it works, if its missing pieces, or just take up the challenge of finding something out about it. I have scored some really great used European toys and been able to find them online.
This track is not the tiny Thomas the Tank wooden sized tracks and trains (although I did purchase one of those at an off brand cheapo store and while the track definitely has some quality issues it does the trick and I even found some extra track all for under $15). This Playschool track is perfect for toddlers. It is large, plastic, snaps together, and has interesting details. I would say the track itself is about 3" wide. It is also not Little People - we have a plethora of those - again due to various used toy purchases.
Unfortunately, the set has some issues from being well used - it only has two cars - a coal car and a caboose - who needs an engine right? Try as I might, I have been unable to locate this same set online for parts of even to tell how much is exactly missing. At first, I thought I would just trash it but I decided to see if H might at least play with the track using some other toys. As it turns out, he loves the cars themselves. They are often elsewhere (on our windowsills which are only 12" from the floor and 7" wide-ish and perfect height for parking cars, boats, planes, trucks, and whatever. H has noticed that there seems to be some missing crucial pieces. "Mommy, no more. No more, Mommy."
"Yes, H, there are no more train cars. We can still play with them though." This has beccome a standard phrase. If a toy is missing a part "It's broken but we can still play with it!" I'm not sure at what age H will comprehend that maybe it can't be played with if it's too badly damanged but we aren't there yet thanks to toddler ingenuity or ignorance.
So the caboose handily becomes a "trailer" for Lightning McQueen and the coal car carries all kinds of things. The track is used as well but is big enough it doesn't easily travel. We've been playing with the tracks and watching Chuggington for a few weeks now but H has just started with a special phrase. I am not sure where he heard it. I haven't said it. The video doesn't say it so I assume it comes from school. At first, I wasn't sure what I was hearing but finally after much intent scrutiny I deciphered this:
"All abooooooorn! All aboooooooorn!"
Yup, a new phrase for sure and too cute to correct.
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