Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Presents! Or; Don't Come Home Without People Magazine

Yeah, yeah, Donny's back. The real question - whaja bring us?

And so, I give you....the Present Rundown

1. For Ariella - a Tetris game. But not the Gameboy kind. (Sing with me! Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doooooo. Digression: Why isn't there a better way to type tunes? You know the song I'm talking about, though, right?) It's real, live, plastic Tetris blocks, and you're supposed to be able to take them and form a cube. Supposedly there are over 9,000 solutions. We're still working on one. Also, they only fit into the box when they're in a cube, so when Ariella puts them away at night, there are always some Tetris limbs akimbo, sticking out of the box at awkward angles.

2. For Yaakov - a Transformer! It's more than meets the eye! (Apparently, the theme of the presents is "The Late Eighties.") Anyway, it looks really awesome - a green car that turns - transforms, if you will - into a robot dude. But the first hitch - it came with an instruction booklet.

Now, I understand needing instruction booklets for really complicated, one-time assembly items, like a Space Station. Or a crib. But a Transformer? A toy that a child should, in a perfect world, be able to do himself? Also, the extent of Yaakov's reading, thus far, is:

1. He recognizes the "O."
2. He writes his name (usually backward) in Hebrew.

Anyway, Donny worked on Tedious Prime for a while, and at the end, had a car in one hand, and an arm in the other.

Hmmm.....

Scene: Yaakov has a friend over to play.

Yaakov: Do you want to see my Transformer?

Friend: Yesh!

Yaakov: Let's turn it into a car!

Friend: Yesh!

Yaakov: Okay, it's really easy! All we have to do is sit here and wait five hours till my daddy gets home from work!

Friend: Let's just go back to gluing our fingers together.

Anyway, we promised Yaakov we'd get him a new toy. A regular car. That does not come with a spare arm.

3. For Nadav - an awesome, soft, cuddly, light-blue Snoopy dog. Two of them, actually, because we learned the hard way what happens when your child becomes addicted to her stuffed animal and there is only one. One. And you can look into every store, search online, call the company, climb every mountain, ford every stream, and at the end of the rainbow, there is STILL no other Bunny to be found. But that's a story for another time. The point is, we have two Snoopy dogs.

4. For me - a brand-new office chair. But that has to wait to come on my parents' lift. Until then, lots of candy (ohmigod - dark chocolate Reese's PB cups) and magazines, and DVDs of The Nanny. Eh, who needs the chair?

8 comments:

Isobel Phillips said...

In the instance of the Transformer, may I suggest that Youtube Is Your Friend? People make actual videos about how to do the transforming bit, which is an indication it's not as easy as it looks in the films :)

MOMZWIFEOFDADZ said...

1. The Tetris song makes me nervous - all those little pieces falling, falling, falling, MAKE THEM STOP.

2. I LOVE "Tedious Prime" - brilliant!

3. Kudos for the two-dogs plan. Maybe you should also buy Nadav extra fingers.

4. This is one of the most brilliant things you've ever written.

Kathleen said...

I thought "Tedious Prime" was funny, and apt. Also funny that it comes with instructions and people have made YouTube videos to show how they transform. YouTube can be your friend. I agree, an office chair can wait when there's chocolates!

SarainAkko said...

1. you're hysterical and 2. I'm super glad I found you through amotherinisrael. 3 Tedious Prime, it belongs on a shirt.

Baila said...

Did D. come home with the Golden Globes People, or was it not out yet?

Gila Rose said...

Baila, no, it's the one about the Travoltas new baby. I've also got some Good Housekeeping and Oprah.

SarainAkko - 1. Thanks! 2. Me too! 3. I would totally buy one.

Risa said...

A great blog entry as usual, Gila. The description of Ariella's tetris cube reminded me a little of "rubix cubes" (also from the eighties). I recall taking the stickers off so the rows would match, but eventually they lost their stickiness. I stuck to my cabbage patch kids and barbies after that. "Tedious prime" was funny as was the decription of Yaakov's playdate. I am wondering if you could confirm that tranformers the toy is "Robotrikim" in hebrew. (That's what my Israeli third cousin used to call them.) Lastly, smart move on the duplicate stuffed animals. (It's just not worth the aggravation to have to find a duplicate after the fact.)

OneTiredEma said...

Ha! The Late 80s! (Two of my friends are at a Bravo taping right now that involves Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.)

Did he also bring leg warmers and shoulder pads?

PS Yaakov is not the only one who writes his name backwards. AM does it in English AND in Hebrew.