Toy Library Lowdown

As I mentioned in my previous post, spring has started out with a rush in our house. We are juggling me in part-time work, Mr Fix It going away in the field, Turtle moving up into the toddler room at childcare, as well as (and this is probably the most painful part!) seemingly dropping her daytime nap.

This post comes to you because she finally crashed this afternoon, after much grumbling and a few major tantrums. That lead me to march her into her room determined not to leave unless she was asleep. Luckily it didn't take long to get her there.

So this is how I find myself sitting quietly at the computer in the afternoon for the first time in weeks. It is quite a luxury.

One of the best toys but I always have to put it in just the right way to fit it in the boot

I've decided a practical post on the toy library is needed to balance out the super positive one I wrote awhile ago. The timing seems right because I am noticing how many commitments I have since I've returned to work (hence the balls continuously flying through the air) and a couple of the toy library ones have, unfortunately, coincided with this time.

That is probably why I forgot I was rostered on for toy library duty at the end of August. I was so sure it was scheduled for the start of September. I checked the roster the afternoon I had missed it. Three hours too late.

The rostering officer took it pretty well. I felt (still feel) so terrible! I get the impression either no one showed up to exchange toys or no one complained because I notified the committee as soon as I realised and they didn't know. Telling myself that makes me feel slightly better anyhow.

So here are a few of the responsibilities that come with the bliss of borrowing toys every 2 weeks:

• Our library has an annual membership of $70, which is pretty cheap when you think about how much a toy will cost brand new;
• You can borrow toys for 2 weeks but there is a week of grace period so it's really 3 weeks (you just can't always take them for that long- aim for 2 weeks);
• Missing items cost $2 each;
• Searching for missing items probably costs around $20 of every members time every fortnight;
• You have to volunteer your time for toy library duty (loaning out toys) twice a semester (or four times each year);
• When you borrow big and clunky toys you have to get all Tetrus and squeeze them in your car;
• Carrying toys and a baby can be quite the juggling act;
• Puddles in the carpark can be a real problem when you have a toddler and your arms full of toys (a.k.a. Turtle sitting in one in her cloth nappy)
• Our toy library does an annual fundraiser with a Bunnings sausage sizzle. I was unable to help out this year due to a death in the family but you are asked to do a 2 hour shift; and
• Stocktake is coming up in the next month and I have managed to book our only weekend away on the same weekend. Luckily I can help out early and do some sorting of puzzles and costumes at home but it would be much easier if I didn't have to worry about it. I will go in for a couple of hours to help out.

So here is the lowdown on the reality of toy library membership. Overall I definitely think it is worth the effort.

Have you ever missed a rostered duty for a toy library or school event?

Toy Library Bliss

Yesterday afternoon was one of those blissful afternoons when I felt relaxed and unburdened by chores. I spent the whole afternoon playing with Turtle apart from hanging out a couple of loads of washing. That was a good excuse to move our play outdoors for awhile anyway so it didn't feel like work. We have recently been on a trip to Bali and I'm pretty sure the glow of the holiday is still with me. It's possible that the acupuncture treatments I recently started are also responsible for my relaxed state of mind.

As I basked in the joy of sitting still and really concentrating on Turtle I appreciated one of the main reasons that she was having such a good time playing. As mentioned in striving for a minimalist birthday, we are members of a toy library. We had been to exchange library toys in the morning and had returned with the obligatory car for outdoors (that I had decided we wouldn't get but then succumbed when Turtle brought it out as soon as we arrived), a puzzle, a stove, some puppets to play with while singing nursery rhymes and a Vtech school bus with rotating letters that plays music and calls out words starting with the letter touched. Not bad for a half hour outing!

Cooking up a storm

From experience I have started to leave the toys in the car after our visit (except the bus this time since Turtle was playing with it on the way home). Then it is nap time (all going well!). Then it is play time. It is so much fun watching Turtle use her library toys. Last fortnight we had a tea set and she played with it for at least half an hour as soon as it was out. Played with it BY HERSELF! This has never happened before. I didn't know she even knew what to do with a tea set. I have no idea where she learnt it but she was setting up cups on saucers and pouring out tea from the pot with absolutely no input from Mr Fix It or I. After a few days the game became more about feeding everyone with the teaspoons from cups or saucers. The poor dogs were being harassed in their beds and chased around the house as she tried to generously "feed" them.

Surrounded by toy library toys: shopping trolley, farmyard, singing mirror toy

Of course it is always difficult to predict what toys will be a hit. Sometimes you pick something up that you think looks great and when you get it out at home and play with it for a minute you realise it's actually quite boring. Other times you pick something out without really looking too hard and it is a winner. The tea set was a surprise for me. Another great toy has been a car that has a handle at just the right height for Mr Fix It and I to push it around (saving our backs!). We have even driven Turtle to the park in it.

The favourite (for both toddler and adults!) push car

That is the beauty of the toy library. You can't predict what toy is going to be engaging or fun. If you buy it then you are stuck with it. Babies change so much over such a short period of time. What is challenging and fun for a 12 month old could be obsolete for an 18 month old. Fleeting attention spans make toy choices challenging too.

We borrow library toys for a 2 week period. Usually that is long enough for Turtle to have figured out how to do a puzzle or how to operate the toy herself depending on the level of difficulty. It is long enough for her to have something around and begin to ignore it. Basically it is long enough for her to become bored with a toy. 

I think toy libraries are a great way to keep children stimulated, learning and involved with play. We get so much out of ours. I am so glad we decided to join one.

Are you, or have you ever been, a member of a toy library? Do you find your children get a lot out of it?

Finding pre-loved books for my book club

I have just joined a book club.  I am pleased because it is something that I have been considering doing for awhile.  I waited to see if an opportunity arose for me to join one organically.  Then I considered starting one as a way to keep up with my friends regularly.  Mr Fix It pointed out (quite diplomatically!) that it might be better to join a book club and see if I like it before I take on the responsibility of organising one.

The stars finally aligned - I checked Gumtree and there was a (convenient!) book club looking for people.

Since there is the potential for needing to buy a lot of new books as part of this hobby I am determined to do everything that I can to re-use, borrow and salvage books each month.  I have built confidence by finding secondhand copies of the first two books that we are reading fairly easily.

The first two book club books successfully found secondhand

The first book is The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.  I am about one chapter in and I am worried it might be too scary for me.  I am also, luckily, intrigued to find out what happens.  It's good to have the book club meeting coming up to help me find energy and motivation to read on and finish it.

When searching for a copy of Shining Girls I checked my local libraries online catalogue to see if they had it.  It was on loan (possibly to other members of the group!).  I decided to get creative and check the library catalogues of two neighbouring Councils.  Both had it.  I was extremely pleased with myself.  I had a dentist appointment near one of the neighbouring Council's libraries and collected it at the same time.  Success!

The second book is my selection.  Eeek! I had arranged with a friend to pop around and raid her book collection to choose something.  For some reason it was feeling a little too difficult and the book needs to be selected soon to give members enough lead time to find and read it before the end of March.  I have been keeping an eye out for ideas and had noted down a couple of potential books that I wanted to research further to see if I liked the look of them, and check their secondhand availability, before I decided.

Then I had the greatest idea.  I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini last year.  It was brilliant.  I thought this would be a great excuse to reread it.  I decided to see if my local Book Exchange, where I recently dropped off used books and received a credit, had it.  I'm pleased to say that the Book Exchange did have it and so I grabbed the copy (since I had given the copy I read last year to my mum).  As such, that is the book I have chosen for the group to read.  I hope they all like it as much as I did.  It's great if you can impress as the new kid on the block.

Do you have hobbies that lend themselves to re-using materials, borrowing things or salvaging items? Does that add to your interest in them?