Getting Christmas Presents

As I mentioned in my last blog post, buying gifts for Alex is sometimes a challenge. While I’m fortunate that we have Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, Kohl’s, Penney’s, and Barnes and Noble in our town that offer a variety of items for shopping, I also do a lot of online shopping for him. When I can’t find items locally at the aforementioned stores, I often check their websites to see what I can get online. Both Kohl’s and Penney’s websites [www.kohls.com and www.jcp.com] offer a nice feature where the shopper can browse for gifts by the intended recipient and/or cost of gift. Besides these stores, I also shop a great deal online at Amazon [www.amazon.com], which is Alex’s favorite online store because of the wide variety of books, toys, games, and electronic gadgets they carry. In fact, I often suggest that Alex’s aunts and uncles get him Amazon gift cards because he has so much fun shopping for items online.

Since Alex has often had interests that were not typical of kids his age, I also have found specialty catalogs especially helpful in finding Christmas gifts for him. I have no connection with the following companies other than being a pleased customer, and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for unique gifts for hard-to-buy-for children and teens.


Bits and Pieces offers a variety of puzzles, games, and interesting gadgets primarily for teens and adults. In addition, their website also provides the helpful feature of suggesting gifts for specified recipients and/or amounts to be spent. Their website is www.bitsandpieces.com.



Young Explorers carries a wide variety of interesting toys and games for children of all ages. They specialize in educational toys and games, many of which have won awards. Their website at www.youngexplorers.com organizes its content by age of recipient and by categories of items. Alex’s favorite gifts from this company often came from the Brainy Toys or Science/Nature/Math sections of the catalog.


Toys to Grow On, whose website is located at www.ttgo.com, also offers a nice variety of educational toys and games for all ages of children. Alex especially liked the items from the “Love to Learn” and “Science Discoveries” of this catalog.


Mindware, which bills itself as carrying “brainy toys for kids of all ages,” provides a terrific variety of educational and award-winning toys, games, gadgets, and books. Over the years, I have found various items for Alex in the “Science,” “Brainteasers and Puzzles,” “Games,” and “Great Gifts” sections of the catalog. Their catalog is not only informative, but it is also appealing with its layout and photography. Their website is located at www.mindware.com.


A catalog I received for the first time this year, Museum Tour, also offers a nice assortment of award-winning educational toys, games and books that are carried in museum stores throughout the United States. Their website is www.museumtour.com. For Alex, I was especially interested in the science-oriented gifts, particularly those dealing with biology, meteorology, and astronomy.

Even though trying to find gifts for Alex sometimes requires some creativity and searching on my part, I’m glad to have found some terrific stores whose catalogs and websites allow me to find Christmas gifts that are right up his alley. Not only has he enjoyed playing with the specialty gifts, but he has also learned from them, which is an added bonus.

“You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35

Annoying Toys

A few days ago, I ran across a really funny blog entry on The Stir by Linda Sharps entitled “The Most Evil Baby Toys Ever Made.” As I read through her descriptions about what made these seemingly innocent toys, such as the Fisher Price corn popper, jack-in-the-boxes, and wooden puzzles, so humorously heinous, I remembered a few of Alex’s toys that drove me crazy. Often these toys were purchased as gifts with the best of intentions, hoping they would help his fine motor skills and/or his delayed language issues. Once Alex received them, however, we realized just how annoying these toys really were.

For example, we gave him the game Lucky Ducks, a motorized home version of the Duck Pond game he likes to play every year at the county fair. Little plastic ducks move along a conveyor, and the child matches the colors on the bottom of the ducks. Besides teaching colors and sorting skills, we hoped having to grab the moving ducks would be good for Alex’s fine motor skills. However, we did not know just how loud and irritating the realistic duck sounds that the game makes would be. Despite Alex’s sound sensitivities, he didn’t seem bothered by the constant quacking that made me feel we were living on “Old MacDonald’s Farm.” Perhaps my dislike of all poultry, other than in the form of baked, fried, or grilled chicken, made me overly annoyed by these little ducks. Even going to a different room while Alex played the game didn’t help matters; the insistent quacking carried throughout the house. I shared my frustration about Lucky Ducks with my autism mom friends online, and one of them had the perfect solution. Her e-mail response to me, entitled, “Shushing the Ducks,” suggested placing a piece of duct (or should that be “duck”?) tape over the speaker holes on the bottom of the game. Could something so simple work so well? Yes, those ducks were muffled by a piece of tape, allowing Alex to continue enjoying the realistic sounds while not subjecting anyone else to the duck’s squawking, so everyone was finally happy. I always wondered why, however, Lucky Ducks did not come with a mute button or a volume control; I suspect this may have been a conspiracy by the manufacturer Hasbro to entertain kids while annoying their parents at the same time.


Another toy we gave Alex was bought with good intentions but wound up being nearly as annoying as Lucky Ducks. Since Alex had hyperlexia, or precocious reading skills, I followed hyperlexia research carefully when he was little. On one of the sites where parents shared ideas, one parent had recommended the game Who Am I? [or maybe it was called What am I? The game is no longer available, and maybe my mind has tried to block all memories of this game.] as a way to improve language skills. This electronic game had a four by four grid of squares, with a picture of common items or animals on each of the sixteen squares. The game was similar to Twenty Questions in that the child tried to narrow down the objects, using clues to help categorize the intended object. For instance, for the first clue, this talking game might say, “I’m big.” The child might then touch the car square. If that were incorrect, the game might say, “I’m gray.” Then the child might choose the elephant square, and the game would tell the child that answer was correct. In theory, this was a terrific game for Alex, to teach him to point to objects, listen to directions, and learn to categorize items. However, for some reason, the manufacturer decided to hire someone with the most obnoxious voice on earth to record the verbal cues. When a button was pressed incorrectly, the voice would say in a snotty tone, “NO, I’m BIGGER than THAT!!” or “NO, I’m RED!!” Underneath that nasty response was the unspoken follow-up, “You big dummy!!” While I didn’t appreciate how incompetent that game made me feel, Alex never seemed to mind being corrected by the evil voice; in fact, he seemed to find the comments funny. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem traumatized by the game voice’s overly harsh criticism; his self-esteem remained intact. However, I wondered how many other kids might have felt as stupid as I did when they, too, played this game. I believe the nasty voice may have led to its demise on the toy market. I hope so.


Along with noisy and snide electronic toys, any toys that had numerous pieces held no affection for me. My younger sister, who didn’t have children until Alex was older, had a habit of giving Alex toys that had lots of parts to scatter/step on/lose. I vowed revenge on her, promising that when she had children, I would get them similar multi-piece toys. However, I didn’t follow through on that plan, knowing how all those pieces had driven me to distraction and not wanting to inflict similar pain upon her. To help Alex’s fine motor skills, he had various multi-piece building blocks: wooden, plastic, and the ever annoying Legos, which when stepped upon in bare feet cause shooting pains and involuntary adult verbal tirades. Interestingly enough, Alex had no interest in building anything with blocks. Maybe his lack of fine motor skills made him less likely to build using the toy blocks. I suspect he preferred demolition to construction because he found great pleasure in knocking over any of the buildings we made to model for him how to put the blocks together. Like a tornado, Alex’s hands rapidly destroyed our block handiwork, and he giggled as he did it. Of course, this meant all those blocks went flying around the room, and cleanup wasn’t one of his favorite tasks. Despite our best efforts, some blocks remained elusive, only to be found accidentally by my bare feet. As I think back on these remnants of our past, I’m thankful that Alex enjoyed these toys that annoyed me so much, but I’m more grateful that he’s outgrown them so that I don’t have to listen to them, or step on them, for that matter.

“So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. “ Ecclesiastes 3:12

Rediscovery

This past week, Alex seems to be in a nostalgic mood, as he has been busily rediscovering books, toys, software, and handheld electronic gadgets that he hasn’t used in months, or even years. His bedroom, which he has been keeping neat for quite a while, currently looks as though a tornado has torn through it because he’s been sorting through books on his bookshelves, toys in his toy box, and electronic games and gadgets in a basket. In our home office, he has software manuals and CD-ROMs lying on the desk. His desktop computer, which held less charm for him once he got his new laptop this summer, has regained favor as he has been playing old games on it. A few years ago, Alex developed a keen interest in simulation computer games and acquired a nice collection of software that allowed him to plan, build, and run various business ventures. After a while, though, he found Google, Wikipedia, and You Tube more interesting than his computer games. However, this week, he has resumed playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, Mall Tycoon, Restaurant Empire, and Casino Empire. The enthusiasm he formerly held for building roller coasters, malls, restaurants, and casinos has returned, and he gains satisfaction as he watches his plans develop through the sequence of the computer games.

Scattered on Alex’s bedroom floor are books that he hasn’t read in months and toys he hasn’t played with in ages. Among the books he’s studying again are two coin collection books of pennies, the NASCAR Road Atlas, and Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words, a gift from a friend who thought I’d appreciate a book whose title contained the name my students call me. I’m not certain why Alex has resumed his fascination with coins, maps, and odd words, but I’m pleased that he knows where to find books that he enjoys. In addition, he’s been pulling out and playing all of his electronic interactive games: U.S. Presidents, Solar System, U.S.A. Map, and World Map. While I suspect that Alex probably knows all the answers to the questions these interactive games pose, maybe playing them again gives him confidence that he has learned the lessons they’ve taught him over the years. He has also been playing with two car-related toys that he’s had since he was little, the Hot Wheels Racing Steering Wheel and the Hot Wheels Auto Tech Service Center, both of which are speaking toys. Since most boys his age are out driving cars, I have to admit that I’m relieved that he’s just dealing with toy cars. Certainly with his motor delays, the Hot Wheels steering wheel is much safer for him to operate than a real steering wheel.

Besides software, books, and toys, Alex has also been digging through his handheld electronic games and gadgets that he has basically ignored for months. He’s been bringing old games to me to put new batteries in them, and in doing his mental inventory, he has realized that some gadgets he previously had have been lost or broken over the years. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, “Progress Achieved,” Alex had a small tape recorder that he would use after provoking us so that he could record our angry comments. He particularly liked replaying Ed’s earnest request “to stop torturing us,” and my middle school teacher voice insisting that Alex “sit down and be quiet because I’ve had enough!” Because he was driving us crazy with that thing, we hid it where he wouldn’t find it. Apparently, we found a really great hiding place because we can no longer find it, either. This week, Alex located a similar tape recording toy online and decided to purchase it using a gift card his uncle and aunt had given him. If he resumes using that gadget for evil instead of good, we will be mailing that Yadda Yadda Yadda, as it’s called, to Uncle John in New Jersey to do with as he pleases. Another gadget Alex decided to replace this week was his Talking Road Whiz handheld device that tells distances between cities and the locations of businesses along major highways—a simpler, less expensive version of GPS. As I recall, angry adolescent Alex threw the original Road Whiz in a fit of temper, which explains why none of the buttons work anymore, despite new batteries. We found the Road Whiz online, and he put some of his gift money toward a new one. Now he keeps using online tracking to see when these new toys will arrive. The other day, he informed me that he also wants a PDA and has been pricing them on the Internet. Although he wanted one several years ago, we did not get him the Palm Pilot he wanted, as we didn’t think he was responsible enough to take care of one of these expensive electronic aids. Now that he does generally do a good job of taking care of his things and has his own money saved to buy one, he’ll probably add another gadget to his collection. Considering that his father now travels nearly everywhere with a Kindle and an I-Pod Touch, Alex seems to be following in his footsteps with all his electronic accouterments. Despite the fun and excitement that come with new possessions, Alex still likes the familiarity of the old things and gains pleasure rediscovering them.

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads and look; and ask for the eternal paths, where the good, old way is; then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’” Jeremiah 6:16