cosas del niño
I knew I shouldn’t choose the toys the kids would to bring to Spain, even though I wanted to. Handing over that process gave them a little sense control in completely uncharted waters. (And saved me from any future blame). Of course, what they really wanted was to dump the entire contents of their bedrooms into a suitcase. But I had to give them parameters and they had to make tough decisions. They could each fill a boot-sized shoe box. That’s it. Cruel? We’ll see…
So for posterity (and for anyone contemplating a similar move) this is what the boy chose, and how much he has played with each item so far:
A wooden snake he painted with Samuel. (Play time: once or twice. It mostly hangs on the wall as decoration.)
His favorite matchbox cars. (Playtime: once or twice)
A build-your-own motorcycle kit. (Playtime: obviously zero)
His favorite stuffed animals. Mom & Dad Knit Penguins are missing from the photo… probably under the bed. (Playtime: they mostly just live under the covers, but provide a lot of comfort.) 
Nesting penguins.
As you can see, they didn’t take up much space. (Playtime: Once or twice, including an amazing stop-motion video.)
Bowling penguins. (Playtime: once or twice. To be fair, it’s impossible to bowl in a straight line anywhere in the Albayzin. But he has made jaunty origami hats for them.)
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Coming soon: what the girl chose
Wow, such an odd assortment. He doesn’t seem to care that he doesn’t have a roomful of toys. It will seem like Christmas when he gets back to Austin.
It wouldn’t be hard to tell who’s assortment this belongs to. I once asked Graham what he liked about penguins . He simply (and very seriously) said, “I like the way they look.” Interesting chemistry…I wonder what his first teenage crush will look like. Do you think she’ll wear a lot of black and white?