I thought I was being clever by putting my phone on vibrate. That way I could tell if the phone was ringing without actually having a ring.

Instead I fell asleep and the phone fell off the dryer onto the floor and scared the bejesus out of me.

hence the ban on battery operated toys

Maybe I have read too much Frank Herbert in my life but I don't like toys that talk on their own. I prefer the kind of toy that Chloe can explore and interact with on her own terms and will grow and change with her.

For christmas this year we got a lot of toys that require batteries. Some of them are musical, some are educational and some are just plain annoying.

I do not think that I will ever understand the need for a puzzle that makes animal noises.

It has little photo receptors in it, when you put the piece in the hole the animal noise plays. Sadly the photo receptors don't require that the piece actually cover the hole. They respond to lack of light. Hence turning off the lights will cause the puzzle to make an animal sound. This can be especially annoying when one is trying to get a fussy two year old to go to sleep.

This at least can be explained by physics.

Last night the leap frog table, which emits a wide variety of music like sounds depending on which of the buttons is pushed, slid or twisted, started randomly playing the trombone sound. this sound requires the sliding of a do-hickey along the track. Since Chloe and I were the only ones in the house and we were both in the rocking chair about 8 feet away from the infernal thing I have no choice but to assume that my house is haunted. Or the toy is possessed.