The Toys Are Alive!

I love the Toy Story Trilogy! Well, as the mom of two small kids, I have to love it or I'd go insane since they love to watch it every day...and every toy section of every store is currently bursting with the latest TS3 characters in addition to the old favorites.

But I do actually love the movie for myself...my grown-up, supposedly mature self. I mentioned this on a Facebook status recently and it's a true confession from my heart; I also believe that toys are alive when humans are not around.

I was always a BIG lover of stuffed animals and baby dolls, including paper dolls and Barbies. These were the main source of my conviction about the alive toys belief. I would carefully line them up on my bed in the morning and when I returned from school, I could tell that they had all moved around during the day and were pretending to be put back into the exact places where I'd left them. I'd look deep into their eyes and whisper secrets and I KNEW they were listening.

So by watching Toy Story, it's like confirming my long-held beliefs. The little girl hidden away in my heart whispers; "See, I knew it!"

And as a grown-up parent, it thrills me to see my kids watching these movies because during and afterwards, they want to play with their own toys in a way that is excellent for little imaginations. I can tell that their little brains are hard at work creating exciting adventures with their trains or stuffed animals.

Here's Samuel and Olivia last night, playing "Toy Story" as Samuel calls it. You can see that some key characters are missing, but are being played by excellent stand-ins that Samuel has chosen...

If you are familiar with the third Toy Story, you'll understand the Care Bear substitute; Samuel told us that he was "the mean bear".

Woody is riding a zebra and Evil Dr. Porkchop is Samuel's piggy bank; he made absolutely sure that there are actually coins in it that he can shake out when being forced to by Mr. Potato Head.

A twist to the usual plot is that Samuel has Slinky actually 'eat' the train and all the train pieces end up inside Slinky's coils. And the Rex stand-in tried to eat Olivia's Polly Pocket dolly but I think Buzz saved her later in the evening, so all is well.

Just look at those toys! You know they love being played with. And sometimes when I get up at night and have to come in for a drink of water, I glance around the living room and see some of them scattered on the floor. I get the distinct feeling I've just interrupted something and am always quick to assure them to feel free to carry on as soon as I've returned to bed.

I know they can hear me.