From Robots and Rockets to “Bobots” and “Bockets"

I was 37 when I became pregnant with Cracker Jack.  I had truly given up on the desire of getting married and having children when it was all dropped suddenly into my lap.  That story is for another blog post.  Of course like any Mommy-to-be, who had been dreaming for years about becoming a Mommy, I had all sorts of ideas and thoughts about names, birth plans, baby gear, etc.

So when Prince Jer and I discovered that we were blessed with a boy, we immediately knew how I we wanted to decorate the nursery...I mean, come on, I had been planning this since...forever!  Just between you and me, one of the reasons I was so wishing for a boy was that I was in LOVE with my nursery theme idea.

I had decided, and the little boy in Prince Jer easily agreed (whew) that if we had a boy that we would decorate his nursery with a rocket theme.  A retro rocket theme, with rockets, robots, aliens and such.  I would have been completely lost if we were having a girl, but I knew it was going to be rockets for my baby boy.

Naturally, much thought and planning when into Cracker Jack’s nursery.  Prince Jer painted a mural on the wall.  He also made some rockets to hang from the ceiling and added the solar system as well.

I altered some paper mache letters for Jack's name.

The bedding was specifically picked out to compliment the retro movie print.

But my favorite part of decorating the nursery was searching for and collecting retro tin toys.  I wanted to add robots, spaceships, rockets and aliens to the little nook and crannies of Cracker Jack’s room.  It was so much fun finding these tin gadgets trying them out.

I carefully planned the placement of each and every adorable one.  I would place it one day and switch it around the next until I got it just the way I wanted.  After all, isn’t the placement of accessories in a nursery the most important step in planning for a baby?  I just knew Cracker Jack and his 5 day old self would be oh-so-impressed!

Fast forward about a year and a half...

I never really expected Jack to even care about the specially selected toy accessories.  I honestly never even gave it a thought.  I just assumed that they would sit on the shelves and be something that I loved and needed to dust.  Contrary to my thought on the matter, Cracker Jack has thoughts of his own...

These toys have become his objects of desire.  He could careless that they wind up and move, in fact it scares him a little, he must think it is a little creepy for a tin toy to suddenly start into motion.  These toys are his equal to other toddlers' teddy bears.  When he is tired, he doesn’t cry for his bunny or blankie, it is his “bockets” and “bobots” that soothe him.  My little guy would rather snuggle up to a cold piece of tin than a warm and fuzzy bunny, and it just melts my heart!

Obviously, novelty tin toys do not handle the love of a toddler very well.  The "bockets" are losing their wings, the "bobots" have lost some limbs.  During all of the selecting of these guys, I my laid back Type A self would have died...just croaked...if anything happened to this precious tin fleet that I obsessed over.  But just like Jack, I don’t care.  I love that they have become more to Jack than nursery accessories, and I adore the fact that he will love them right down to their last hinge and bolt.