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This summer has really been the summer of Cars. Not only Keegan has been watching the video over, and over, and over again on the weekends, but he has been playing with his toys cars A LOT. Many people complain about these movies, because their kids obsess over some particular character…well we are counting our blessing. Since he discovered Cars in the Spring, he has been playing with them a lot, by HIMSELF. This means that we get a few minutes of independent play when we can actually relax and read or do whatever, without having to pay attention to him 100%.

It is not quiet, mind you, because I think this is physically impossible for him to do, just like he can’ t stay still. He needs to talk. We get many comments, all the time (some nicer than others) on how he expresses himself so well, how he asks so many questions, how inquisitive he is…all nice ways to say he is NEVER quite. Not even in the bathroom, or when he goes to sleep. And definitively not when he plays. It is actually quite funny: he makes up all these stories, and I have to say that the little TV he watches, fuels his imagination and stories.

He plays with his cars using all sort of other toys, building garage, or slides or whatever else. He races them, he hides them, he lines them up, and he takes photos of them with his camera…

this is what I find when I get home from work

some of his favorite ones…but where is Francesco?

recording the crash?

Despite my dislike for licensed characters stuff, my resistance was futile: he has Cars underwear, sock, shoes, pjcs, t-shirt, various books, stickers and markers. He even has a Cars 2 lunch box: after spending a long time looking for the perfect lunch box to buy, we went to Target and it was all over…I had to get that one. My favorite toy, though, is a large Mac: it contains 16 cars and has a handle, and this is where all the cars go to sleep at night. (-: And he is going to get a new launcher. garage, once he gets enough stickers, of course, that will hold 10 more. These are the kind of toys that I like…storage masked as toys.

We also found a way to use his new passion to our advantage. We made sticker charts to earn new cars. The charts have a road and he uses cars stickers to fill it. This has helped our nighttime routine quite a bit. We both win: he gets new cars, we get more peaceful nighttime. The only problem is that, since he jumped on the bandwagon so late, it is extremely difficult to find the cars he wants at a reasonable price, since it has been so many years since the movie came out. The charts also have the added bonus of instilling the idea that you need to earn your toys. Now if he sees something he likes he says: “can I earn stickers for this toy?” Nice.

“There is a lot of traffic on this road” is his usual comment

Now he is looking forward to the Fall, when the new Cars 2 video will come out. We thought about taking him to the movies, but he can’t stay still and quiet for two hours, and even at home he always wants to skip through videos, even his favorite ones. So we all agreed that waiting for video is probably best.

So, thank you Pixar. You genius idea of commercializing one of the oldest plaything for little boys has really worked out for us.