Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Oh Play-Doh...

I love you and I hate you all at the same time.

Tate loves Play-Doh.
Don't all kids?
I hate Play-Doh.
Don't all moms?
Ok, so apparently all moms don't hate Play-Doh.
And you Play-Doh loving moms out there make me feel like the most boring, no fun mom in the world! I just can't do Play-Doh.
It's messy and gets into every nook and cranny and crumbles into little pieces that stick all over everything and fall on the floor. It drives me bonkers when the colors get mixed up, but my child seems to care less if the colors get mixed up. All the Play-Doh tools and kits are a nightmare to clean. Yup, I am not a fan of Play-Doh.
Tate associates Play-Doh with Nana and Papa P's house because they let him play it there.
We have Play-Doh in the house...hidden deep in a closet!
We get it out about once a year...really, that's it. And when I get it out, Tate is ecstatic! You'd think this joy I see in him would make me allow him to use it more. It doesn't. I can't help it.
However, on the flip side, I LOVE Play-Doh. I mean, this is practically the one and only "toy" (would it be considered a toy?) that could keep Tate entertained for HOURS...and I'm talking hours upon hours. I mean, he played with Play-Doh for 6 hours straight the other day when I got it out! No joke. I don't recall that he even stopped to go potty. It was glorious...I was able to get so much stuff done that I had on my list! So that day, I loved Play-Doh. :)
Now I must admit that with our new home, we have a toy room which houses a craft table. I LOVE having this table. It has marks all over it from markers and crayons and pens and pencils and it's not bothersome to me whatsoever...because that's what the table it for! So I figured that the Play-Doh would be easier for me to deal with since he was playing with it on his craft table. Unfortunately, that wasn't so. He still got Play-Doh on the floor, mixed the colors, got little Play-Doh chunks stuck into every nook and cranny of his "tools" and left greasy marks on the table that I had to scrub off. So the Play-Doh was put away after about 36 hours of it being out for Tate to play with. It may not show it's messy face again until about this time next year. :)
I did notice that Tate's new Preschool has Play-Doh for the kids to play with...SCORE! Maybe I'll never have to get it out again and just leave the Play-Doh playing for Preschool, Nana and Papa P's and those friends of his (and family members) who have much cooler moms who don't deprive their children of Play-Doh time.

2 comments:

Candi said...

19? This count was a quick run through but has to be at LEAST this many times : )

sarak said...

The key to Play Doh...Let them "have at it" and teach him how to sort the colors when done. Then let the "crumbs" dry before vaccuuming up! That seems to work for us. :)