Watch the EYE!

Maggie’s favorite toys interact with her. If Maggie can hit a toy and make it talk, sing, beep, buzz or play music, it quickly becomes a favorite. As you can imagine, we tend to hold onto toys that fill this need. Fortunately, there are quite a few of them available.

We had a stuffed Poomba, a character from the Lion King, which said hilarious things when you shoved bugs in his mouth. Maggie quickly learned to shove her hand down his throat to make him talk. There was also a Rosie O’Donnell doll that spewed “Rosie-isms” (e.g. cutie patootie) if you hit her in the chest. To be fair, Rosie was designed to be hugged or squeezed, but Maggie could not coordinate those movements and, let’s face it, that is just not her style. Maggie found she could make Rosie talk by slamming her fist into Rosie’s chest, as both she and the doll lay flat on the floor. She would do it repeatedly. It was hilarious. Rosie finally died of old age and abuse, but she had a great run.

One of Maggie’s favorite talking toys was/is Mike Wisowski from Monsters Inc. We have a version of him that says things if you drop him on the ground or if raise up one of his arms Maggie could do both of those things and if she lifted up the arm and tossed it at the same time, as she was want to do, Mike would speak sentences in rapid fire succession. Unlike the adaptations she made from Rosie’s intended use, Mike Wizowski was actually designed to be abused and tossed around. The sayings were appropriate for that use also. You would hear a voice that sounded like Billy Crystal san things like, “Hey, cut that out” or "OW!", along with encouraging sayings like “Atta Monster” or “Mike Wisowski, on the job!”

Maggie’s favorite Mike saying was “Hey, WATCH THE EYE!” She would toss that toy around repeatedly, going through all the sayings, until she heard that one and then she would throw back her head and laugh uproariously. Everybody laughed at that Sometimes she did this 50 times a day. My dad really loved it. This activity gave my dad a better insight into Maggie. He realized from this that Maggie was doing things purposefully, and had a great sense of humor. Every time he saw Maggie, whether she was anywhere near the toy or not, my dad would greet her with “HEY WATCH THE EYE!” and send Maggie into peals of laughter.

Mike #1 bit the dust and was quickly replaced with Mike #2. He lasted for a long time, but was eventually abandoned to the bottom of the toy chest. He reemerged about six months ago when we downsized from the toy chest to a backpack. Maggie is enjoying him all over again.

The backpack works great because Maggie can reach in and throw everything hither and yon until she finds whatever interests her. Nearly all of the toys that made the cut are noisemakers of some sort, so there is always a cacophony of sounds as Maggie tosses things around. As we pile them back in, you hear all sorts of conversations and noises coming from the backpack and that is hugely entertaining. It is like the toys in the Toy Story movies talking to each other. In fact, I am sure Buzz Lightyear and Woody are in that bag too, as is the Don Rickles Mr. Potato Head.

The other day I was alone in the front room putting all the toys into Maggie’s backpack. As I stuffed something in at the top, I heard Mike in the bottom of the bag say, “HEY WATCH THE EYE.” I laughed all by myself. Of course, it made me think of my dad, who has been gone three years this week, and I smiled all over again.