"Oooooh, wow!"

I am now convinced that with enough hype on my part I can make ANYTHING seem great to my 2 1/2 year old. Today I was able to get Ryan excited about a tote, bread and Mr. Potato Head with one sentence and all within about 30 seconds. I told Ryan I got something really cool for him while I was at the store. I sent out to bring in my loot from shopping. I bought a bunch of totes for storage and had put most of the stuff inside. So I take the stack of lids off of the tote that contained the surprise. One lid was attached, so it stayed on. As I did this Ryan had come over to help me. "Oh, wow!" Ryan exclaimed. My brother was over, we both stifled a laugh at his excitement over the tote. I told him the really cool thing is inside. I open the tote and Ryan pulled out the bread from inside, "Ohhhhhhhhh, bread!" The laughs were not stifled as much this time. Then I pulled out the bag with Mr. Potato Head and his bucket of parts. Even more excited, "Oooooo, Mr. Tato Head!!! Can I open?!" We opened it and Ryan had lots of fun making the whole Potato family. So much fun when I asked if he wanted pizza he said, "No, I playing tato head." the boy does not turn down pizza. He did decide he wanted pizza when he saw TJ and me eating ours.
Can I just say that Mr Potato Head is the perfect toy for 2 year olds?! The creativity is amazing. Ears in armpits, two sets of eyes, tongues on top of the head...these are not things an older kid would appreciate. At least my older kid, he looks at the picture, copies it and then he is done. Mr. Potato Head just isn't as fun without a little creativity :-)