Meet Boxy.
"Hi, Boxy!"
One day after school, my 4yo saw an empty box I hadn’t broken down yet, and asked to play with it.
I handed it over, and went back to checking Facebook cleaning the house.
Minutes later, I was introduced to her New Best Friend.
Holy Chicklets on a stick, does this thing give me the Heebie Jeebies.
How Do You Skeeve Me? Let Me Count The Ways...
She carries Boxy around the house so Boxy can watch her cook in her play kitchen, witness the joy of Squinkies in her dollhouse, keep her company on the couch during Megamind.
She crawls inside of Boxy, closes the flaps, then bursts out, re-enacting a dramatic birth scene creepier than anything her Satanic Twin Porcelain dolls (that I exorcised from our home earlier this year) could ever dream up during their Reign of Terror.
This is the toy equivalent to the velvet Jesus painting: No one knows quite what to say about it, and It’s Always Watching You.
iiiiiiii seeeeeeee youuuuuuuuu.....
I tried to distract Miss A with other, less nightmare-inducing toys.
I ended up carrying Boxy upstairs so they can read to Miss A’s dolls in bed together.
I tried to move Boxy closer to the Recycling Bin in a subliminal-message-type manner.
I ended up sitting at the kitchen table having a tea party with Boxy hogging the raspberry danish.
The fact of the matter is: Boxy always prevails.
How do I – a perfectly capable 35yo woman – feel about losing this battle of wits to a cardboard box?
Perfectly fine.
Because this creepy seductive-eyed box makes my little girl Furiously Happy.
It’s not about me.
It’s about her.
She felt a Toy Void and, instead of begging for a trip to Target and some new plastic piece of crap I’ll eventually step on with bare feet at night, she filled the void herself.
I don’t want to give my kids everything they’ve ever wanted.
I want to give them what they need.
(Plus a little more, of course)
I also want to leave a little space for them to fill their own needs when they can. Figure things out on their own.
Which is exactly what my 4yo daughter did on a day when she wished she had a playdate after school.
She made a friend and fell in love with it her.
So me and Boxy?
We’re alright.
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Seems daughters are on our blogging minds. I’m impressed you can co-exist being creeped out and accepting Boxy simply because you daughter loves “her”.
It’s a tough love, but someone’s gotta do it.
I love it! A child’s imagination is a wonderful thing…even when it comes in the form of a slighty creepy box friend.
She is so creative, and usually it impresses me…not creep me out.
OMG. This is so funny. Boxy, though? Seriously creepy. I think I shall give Z nothing but empty boxes and pop bottles for the holidays…
You may have started a new trend.
Santa’s gonna wrap up our recycling bin and call it a day this year.
hysterical. i can see it coming with my 2.5 year old. boxy is so creepy in an even creepier-than-that foxy kind of way. i’m not sure i could take it. i already have a thing with mascots, bobble heads, The King from the burger king commercials…some others. i could see boxy being too much for me and a tragic accident befalling her…flood? wind storm? box cutter typhoon?
Oh, an errant splash could RUIN her. She knows to behave.
Perfect timing with this post. My son just finished building an airplane out of the recycling box using a cereal box, two water bottles and an amazon box. Last week it was a robot out of yogurt containers, a salad dressing bottle, some paint chips and assorted cardboard pieces from bedding packages. They’re really cool and I love his imagination — I just don’t know what to do with the collection that’s taking up more and more space in my house.
Usually we “recycle” things “so the recycling guys can make MORE boxes/bottles/whatever for us and other kids to play with”. But Boxy’s here to stay.
I rememeber when my sister and I were little we made an amazing box maze in our basement right after moving to our new house. It even had various cardboard trucks and cars. The most impressive was the semi we constructed. Our mom let us keep it up for weeks and even take the poor dog through all of it
This makes me wish I had a basement for my kid….
“Holy Chicklets on a stick!”… I effing love this post. You are a way better mama than me. I probably would have made Boxy disappear in the middle of the night and then blamed Daddy and the garbage men. Tip? Get rid of the rest of those stickers so she doesn’t turn anything else into Boxies!! Yikes! What are those from? “Build your own Barbie?” Ick!
I don’t mean to shock your socks, but those stickers were a gift from my mother-in-law.
God Help Me.
My 2 youngest girls talked dad into letting them have an empty BBQ grill box, ( I was unaware of it cause I was at the store) well I came to find out ( from the neighbor) that they were sleeping in this box saying they were homeless and had no bed. Needless to say the box had to go
Oh my, too funny!
I’m dying over “excessively happy conjoined twin.” I have giggle aftershocks.
There is absolutely no reason for that conjoined twin to be so damn happy. It is disconcerting.
So awesome. Thank you so much for the laughs! I love when kids use their imaginations. I especially love it when they come up with stuff like this!
Girlfriend looooves using her imagination. If it weren’t so creepy, Boxy would be quite impressive.
I’m thinking my only child could use a boxy – then maybe she wouldn’t need me to watch her play every. single. thing. Your boxy really does have the bedroom eyes…rrrrrrr….
I will admit, Boxy does keep her company in my place at times.
That thing would creep me out too.
But I’d let my kid have it for as long as it made them happy.
For now? My four year old daughter is content to play with rocks.
Ah, yes. Mine recently ended her love affair with rocks. And now it’s the box. Maybe the next stage will be socks? Or lox?
Yes to this!
Boxy skeeves me out, too, but there is nothing better than watching your kid, imagination in full flight. Nothing better.
PS/ Totally clicked. Happy Kim, yes?
Thanks for the click! Happy happy.
First thing I thought of was this: http://aqua-teen-hunger-force.wikia.com/wiki/Boxy_Brown
Second thing I thought of: my own four year old’s new imaginary brother Leo. She only has sisters, so she created her own little brother. See? Filling that void that’s NEVER GETTING FILLED BY ME. It’s not exactly as creepy as Boxy, but last night I did see her holding her hands out in front of her zombie-style and saying, “Look! I’m hugging Leo!” Um. Cool?
Boxy Brown? Awesome
And Leo? That is too cute. My brother had a lion that lived under his bed. He never even once tried to bite me, which was nice.
I can’t decide whether boxy or the twins is creepier. I think maybe boxy because she’s bigger. But it’s a hard hard decision…
Now imagine the twins coming out of Boxy like a birth.
*shudder*
Be happy that Boxy seems to only be a home-toy. My girl picks a favorite something and it must go everywhere with her. Note to self: only leave small boxes lying around.
She still does that, but with animals. Sometimes a Squinkie, sometimes a LPS critter, other times it’s a giant furry puppet. At least Boxy is a homebody.
Boxy is super creepy, but dang she’s useful. I hesitate to mention the MakeDo kits for boxes where she can add hinges, wheels, and other functional bits to Boxy. Make her like Rosie the robot maid so at least she sweeps up her own danish crumbs.
If I could make Boxy into Rosie? I’d be ALL OVER IT.
It is always great when kids use their imaginations to create something new. And yes, it is creepy, but I think you are wonderful for letting Boxy stay.
Aw, thanks. But I can totally feel her watching me as I type this.
Ok, you’re officially a saint. That thing creeps me out!!!
Right now she’s in the basement again. So I just need to never go down there. Ever. And I’ll be okay….
Kim . . . I’m sorry . . . but U have me absolutely rolling on the floor!!!
Boxy is ok, kinda creepy, but ok. The Satan Twin Spawns really are creepy. My mother-in-law gave my daughter a baby doll that giggled every time U poke her belly. Well, long story short, my MIL died about 10 years ago, & the baby doll giggles now for no reason at all. Wanna talk creepy?
Anyways, Thank U! I needed a good laugh (& I am sincere in my apology that it came at your expense).
Dude. You still have a doll that your MIL gave your kid MORE THAN 10 YEARS AGO?!?! Are you trying to be nominated for sainthood through martyrdom? Does your kid even still play with dolls? I think it is time for crazy devil doll to find a new home…
Your doll is scarier to me than the Evil Twins and Bpxy combined.
My Rule of Thumb: If the toy is possessed? GIVE IT AWAY. And by “away”? I mean throw it in the garbage. *shudders*
I haven’t thrown it away because the MIL passed away almost a year after my husband & I got married. My daughter was 2 then. No, she doesn’t play with dolls anymore, but my daughter has asked to keep her because it reminds her of her “Big Mama”. Otherwise, she’d be out the door.
I figure she’ll get rid of her when she’s ready.
Ahhh…the joy of interrupted work space because our spawn have latched onto to toy and are finally happy….
Thanks for always making me smile. I nominate you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Cheers
Aw, thanks!
Thanks for the nice comment earlier today.
My baboos LURVE containers of any kind, but big boxes make their day. We have created a television screen to do newcasts behind (hee-larious), rocket ships, houses, but no creepy Mona Lisa eyes box friends. Those eyes are freaking me out! We have a similar coconut head and he lives in the closet. Eek.
I’m seriously considering crafting an apartment out of a closet so Boxy can have a (enclosed whee I can’t see her) place of her own.
Please tell me that Boxy doesn’t still live with you… That was a sweet ending, though, about kids entertaining themselves, and one I’ll take to heart the next time I am gifted a tangled, beaded, glue-encrusted, pasta-laced necklace instead of being asked to go to the store to buy an expensive kit that makes tangled, beaded, glue-encrusted necklaces.
hollow tree ventures recently posted..I’m Putting the "Hell" Back in Healthy
Boxy is still here.
Boxy never dies.
Boxy haunts my dreams.
Damn it, Kim. I’m going to have nightmares over those creepy eyes.
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Ooooohhhhh TrAAAAAAAcyyy…she’s watching youuuuuuuuu….
You think that’s creepy? You should see the turkeys with human faces that my son makes out of frozen pizza boxes. There are always two and they’re always in love.
Michelle recently posted..just like in the books
That scares me…and yet I need to see a picture of that RIGHT NOW. Seriously. Please email me a photo or post it to my Facebook page. PLEAAAAASE?
How kind of you to take Boxy in that way. Sweet Boxy. Those eyes do scare me, though. And that pig nose. (Thanks for linking up with #findingthefunny!)
Kelley recently posted.."If you don’t know me by now (a song for my cleaners)", not by Simply Red
Good God, that pig nose. *shudders*
Those eyes and mouth are pretty scary looking!!! My mother always tells about the big cardboard box that I played with for a long time when I was really little. Long before play kitchens and all that. I had my own “house” made of a box!
I loved when an appliance broke, because it meant a new “house” for me, too. Though, my brother usually tried to make it his “rocket”, but I was faster with the crayons.
Woo hoo – you’re #1 again. Most clicked link at last week’s finding the funny. Featuring you tomorrow – and pinning this too. Thanks Kim!
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Thanks for pinning & passing this around! I love to scare other people with Boxy. Makes me feel less alone.
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OMG the birth reenactment would creep me out!!!! Better than an imaginary friend you can’t see though, and the kid is constantly looking over your shoulder at it saying it is right behind you….. (sigh)
The Birth Reenactment is like a fresh new nightmare each time she does it.
My brother had an imaginary friend when we were kids. He was a tiger who rarely left his room, and wasn’t a nuisance at all. Why can’t she just get one of those??
I just blew coffee out my nose when I read this…HILARIOUS!
Ouch! Sorry! I mean…um…you’re welcome? I’m so confused.
Oh, that’s sooo funny. What an imagination!
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Oh, yes, that girl has one heckuva imagination…
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