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Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Well, I think Amelie did have a good 4th birthday yesterday...


Admittedly, things got off to a shaky start when I unwittingly trod on a tube of Bepanthen whilst trying to get her presents out of the wardrobe in the dark, and then tracked nappy cream all the way into the living room without realising. I subsequently missed quite a bit of the birthday fun due to being on my hands and knees with a bucket. And I don't mean throwing up. Although it did make me sick.

Fortunately things picked up from there. I was due in court first thing, so we only let Amelie open half her presents in the morning, leaving the rest for when I was let out for good behaviour. But she seemed pleased with the Sea Monkeys...


... and that new doll on the green mat is scarily life-like.

I felt slightly guilty when she looked at the picture on the Sea Monkeys box...


... and asked me if that's what they'll look like, but having explained to her the concept of poetic licence, she accepted the difference between advertising and reality, and declared "I can't wait to watch them swim!". So they'd better hatch after all this.

Of equal success was the collection of Zoobles, which were greeted with much pleasure and excitement. My brother bought her a box of twenty, which looked remarkably like a set of snooker balls, and we added an overpriced play-set complete with babies so small that we'd lost them within a few hours.

As it transpired, however, that play-set wasn't so much overpriced as priceless. I mentioned ten days ago that my understanding of Zoobles is roughly akin to my understanding of quantum physics, and sure enough, having unwrapped and examined the Zoobles, not one of us could work out how they opened. Not even Amelie, who claimed to be a world expert on the creatures.

Fortunately, this is where the internet proved its worth. Having entered the question into Google, I discovered that "Zoobles are collectible colorful spheres that 'pop' open into fun and cute characters when placed on their magnetized 'Happitat'" – a statement which filled me with instant horror when I realised we hadn't got one. I was also mildly concerned that the price of a Happitat would be so great that it would work out cheaper to buy a snooker table and use the Zoobles as balls.

But as it transpired, the overpriced play-set I'd been persuaded to buy in Toys R Us contains one solitary Happitat amongst all the sad plastic tat, which is enough to open her twenty Zoobles. I've never felt so relieved. And having seen them in action, I'm actually quite impressed. They might just be colourful characters to Amelie, but they're remarkable feats of engineering to me. It's no wonder they're so expensive.

1 comments:

Phil's Mum said...

Phew!  That's a relief!  And I did actually think, for a moment, that you had bought Amelie a new big doll!