Ten points for the first person to name the character standing beside the most adorable child on the planet!
I was pawing through some old pictures and found this one and besides being blown away by the gourmet deliciousness of my child, I wondered who the new “in” characters are nowadays for the toddler set.
Nearing her teen years now, my daughter loves Pokemon & Spongebob, but mostly, she’s creating her own characters who are mostly dragons and have names like Fireheart and Europia. My nieces, aforementioned on this blog as the “Twinkies” are five and love anything and everything princess-related. (Everyone is Genevieve, the princess from Barbie’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses, including Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, which drives me bonkers.) My daughter was never quite so “pink” (this is her favorite adjective for the Twinkies. “But Moooommmm….they’re so PINK!”)
She has a slew of Barbies, including some of the dancing ones. She also had trucks, airplanes, plastic cavemen and dinosaurs. And trains…lots and lots of trains! She collected My Little Pony and Littlest Petshop until very recently. Now she’s all about Spyro and Mario Bros. and various video-game related characters.
Except for the Twinkies and my cousin’s four-year-old daughter, I don’t have many little ones to buy for anymore this Christmas. I know that Tickle Me Elmo is making a big return this year, but what’s hot for the younger set this year? What do your kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews/neighbor kids like? What did you like when you were that age?
I remember collecting those beanbag stuffed animals. They weren’t Beanie Babies…this was WAY before them. They were mostly dogs. Can’t remember what they were called, but they were hot and sold in Spencer Gifts and Hallmark stores. When I was much younger, it was all about the Barbie doll and accessories. Nothing like it is now, but I loved me some Barbie.
By all reports, Julie Leto was a sweet child once, somewhat shy, preferring to play quietly in her room making up stories. However, being raised with three brothers in a loud, primarily Italian household did have its influences and Julie discovered her inner tough girl. That’s probably why most of her heroines kick serious butt. Writing sassy heroines has worked out, as she’s sold nearly thirty books to three publishers featuring strong, confident women. Julie lives in Florida with her husband, daughter, spoiled dachshund, enormous guinea pig and a wide range of relatives all within driving distance.
ANOTHER WILD WEDDING NIGHT
Hard to Hold
Love Me If You Dare
Wild For Him
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My girls are about out of the collecting age but we’ve been through the beanie babies, the dalmatian figurines, the barbies, the polly pockets, I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting. The big thing I remember collecting is the Smurf figurines – - at one point I had over 200 of them. I said something about Smurf’s a few months ago and my girls looked at me like I had just made up a new word.
Everyone have a “smurfy” day
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Smurfs! Who doesn’t love Smurfs! It’s hilarious that they dont’ remember them.
(I’m putting him in because he’s blue.)
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Love the photo. That is Sir Topham Hatt. My nephew loved Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. My niece wants Strawberry Shortcake toys and my nephew wants Lego toys this year.
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Yeah! 10 Points! I know…isn’t she adorable? She was so excited. We flew to North Carolina and then drove all the way to this small town in the middle of nowhere so she could ride the Thomas Train for 15 minutes. But she was thrilled. She loved that train! Strawberry Shortcake making a comeback!
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The character is Sir Topem Hat (sp?) from THomas the Train. My two year old son is in love with the show now. My four year old daughter is very much “pink” with the whole princess thing, although we seem to be only dealing with Disney Princesses. Last week she started with it is a boy thing or girl thing. My 17 month old girl is just into everything.
Very cute picture.
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Thanks, Jen. The show is really cute. I actually didn’t mind it. Have you seen the movie, though? NOT as cute. Peter Fonda was seriously on drugs.
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Are you talking about Pound Puppies? I think they sell them again too. My youngest niece is almost 6 and still all about the Disney princesses. She likes Barbies too, but only likes the ones from the movies.
My understanding that the biggest toy this year is the go-go hamsters(Zhu-Zhu pets). I was looking for a friend and couldn’t find them anywhere(the Walmart lady actually laughed when I asked about them). Luckily, my niece doesn’t want one. We did have to pull off 2 Tickle-me-Elmos many years ago. My 2 oldest nieces told my sister about 2 weeks before Christmas that they each wanted one. Not sure how my B-I-L did it, but he was able to come up with 2 that year.
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Yes! Pound puppies! I had a few of those…but otherwise, was never a collector of toys. Probably because money wasn’t spent on such things when I was a kid. I’ve seen the commercials for Zhu-zhu pets…my daughter wonders what you do with them after they’ve gone around a couple of times. Ever practical…
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I’m with your daughter, Julie. BTW, she is such a cutie in that picture! I really did think it was the guy from monopoly, but I have all nieces, and none have really been big Thomas fans.
I was into dolls, barbies, strawberry shortcake, trucks, cars, games and books when I was growing up. Also loved my pink dirt bike and roller skates.
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Sir Topham Hat from “A Day Out With Thomas (the train)”. My oldest is still into Pixar/Disney stuff, Middle boy loves Pokemons, Bacugans, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, while Youngest loves Spongebob (and anything that the older two like).
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katie, your sons and my daughter would get along great! Star Wars is also very big here!
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They are Star Wars fanatics (mostly middle boy, but youngest is also getting into it). Makes Christmas easy…just anything with Star Wars or Clone Wars on it!
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Well, I was also guessing Sir ToppemHat. My son loved and still plays with Thomas and Friends. He also loves Cars, and Transformers. To me it is a weird combination but fits his age perfectly. Somewhere between little boy and big boy (9).
My daughter goes from babydolls to makeup. Just depends on the mood swing. I much prefer babydoll days. (11)
Have a great day!
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Another 10 pointer!
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I guess we never watched Thomas because I thought he looked like the monopoly guy:) My kids, girl 7 and boy 10, are into so many of the same things that I was. Both love Star Wars and all the super heroes- Batman, Superman, Xmen. My daughter has smurfs, care bears, mickey mouse, princess stuff galore, and strawberry shortcake. My son likes hot wheels, legos, cars, gi joes, and transformers. Some things change and others stay the same. Toys from my generation were obviously made to last because they are still around and popular today. Newer toys seem trend like and disappear before you know it. Spongebob and pokemon might the exceptions.
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Pokemon has been around a very long time. Many of my nephew’s toys (he’s now in college) are my daughter’s now. He knows she’ll take care of them! I think certain toys come back because they appeal to the parents who had them originally as children. I know I bought my daughter a Drowsy doll because I had one and today, I looked rather longingly at Rock’em Sock’em Robots!
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Gotta know Thomas the Train to know that one: Sir Topham Hat. My boys are big into super heroes and adventure. So there’s Secret Saturday, Star Wars Clone Wars, Sonic, Ben 10, Transformers, and Hot Wheels: Battle Force Five.
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Boy, those points are flying! Sounds like a boy household for sure.
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What did I love as a toddler? That was so long ago I have no idea!!
I do remember a favorite toy that was a Koala Bear one of my uncles had given me. It had the softest fur. My girls played with lots of Fisher Price toys, Barbies and lots of other things. Even the grandkids are growing up beyond this stage! I have no idea what the in toys are now because I don’t need to know. My youngest grandson loved Thomas the Train but I had no idea who that character was until I read the messages.
The picture is darling, thanks for sharing it with us.
:fallleaf: :rain: We got some rain yesterday, yea! Today is sunny, clear & cool. :fallleaf:
:thanksbig:
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Thanks, Donna. I do think the picture is adorable. When I told her I wanted to just eat her up, her near-teenage response was, “Cannibal!”
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His original name was the Fat Controller. I’m glad they changed it.
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Me, too! Though I did love Ringo Starr as the narrator/conductor…though George Carlin was obviously awesome as well.
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Sir Topham Hatt from Thomas the Tank Engine. My nephew loved the series and still has all the engines.
This year the nieces and nephews are into PC games, music and clothes.
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Mary, sounds like my nieces and nephews now!
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At almost 25 my daughter still collects Rubber Duckies. She has an extensive collection- I try to find the most X-rated ones I can find. She loves them.
Me? I collect dragons and have for years. And Flamingos. But that is a whole nother story.
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Webkinz for girls, Transformers for small boys, Electronic games for all teens!
Pat Cochran
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Ooooo! Someone beat me to it!
The kids I teach love trains, and a certain blue train at that.
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Gotta love Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt. My little guy really likes Dora, Diego, Dinosaur Train on PBS (so everything dinosaur), and anything from Disney Pixar’s Cars. The oldest loves Spongebob and likes to pretend he puts Dinosaur Train on for little bro.
Both, sadly, also like cheesy Godzilla movies. (Thanks, Grandma). The ones w/ the guy in the rubber suit. Not at all frightened, although the youngest gets mad when cars get squished.
I was of the Pound Puppy generation also. Some Cabbage Patch kids, some Smurfs (I saw *new* smurf toys at Toys R Us the other day!). And My Little Pony was the BEST. Never much of a Barbie fan.
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now don’t go laughing at me but I really thought/think that the character was the guy from the Monopoly games…ROLMFAO.My kids love anything TinkerBell…to the day they still want Tink stuff and Amber turned 18 recently and Autumn is 17 so it just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what age….deep down kids still just want to be kids and have fun and leave their troubles behind. Autumn says that the Tink bedroom she has relaxes her from the stresses at school and with friends. I say whatever works and keeps my babies ,well, babies is fine with me.
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Hi Julie,
Very cute pic of your daughter. I would never have guessed the name of that fellow. I have gotten over the collecting thing. At my age the less dusting the better. I always collected hallmark ornaments. Only recently stopped but have a wonderful collection. My boys were GI joe and transformer kids (now 30’sand 40’s) They loved those inexpensive bags of plastic soldiers. Once they dug a hole
so big in the yard hubby had an ulcer when he arrived home to find then playing under and around our outdoor to the street plumbing pipe. Argh!
My Grand’s Oldest has collected books and dragons for as long as she has been reading. Youngest is into Abby Caddabby and Elmo. She also loves to play mommy to her baby dolls. The 2 middle boys are 5 and 9 and are into anything super hero(batman,spiderman, superman and so on.. The latest is GI Joe. I recently bought a colorforms game for my daughter in law. I remember
her mentioning that she loved them when she was a kid and picked them up as a fun surprise. Good topic! Have a nice evening. Oh zoey likes pigs ears, bigger than she is, and very small stuffed toys.