Saturday with Kermit

Every kid needs a Kermit in their life. When my intern was very small, I picked up a modern Kermit puppet from Toys R Us for her. Since then we have been able to track down a couple original old-school versions of good old Kermie! Her modern Kermit doesn't appear in this photoshoot (I don't have enough hands!) but the originals, dating back to the late seventies, are far superior anyways.

Derek of Really Rather Random Guy recently found this same Kermit puppet in his used toy hunt travels. I found ours at a second-hand kid's clothing store shortly after buying the modern one for my intern (isn't that always the way?) His tongue is missing, but the thread outline is still there. It doesn't appear that the tongue was removed, so I can only assume it is a manufacturing error. It doesn't detract from Kermit's awesomeness though, since the pink thread outline for the tongue is there. We'll just assume he has been eating black licorice. Or coffee without cream, which I am drinking this morning since we're out of milk. Blah.

This Kermit Muppet Puppet dates back to 1978 and was manufactured by Fisher-Price.

My intern also has a Kermit stuffed animal/plush/doll/whatever you want to call it. Also made by Fisher-Price, the stuffed Kermit dates back to 1976. I actually owned one of these as a kid, so I am particularly fond of him!

As is my intern. Obviously.

Over the past week or so we have had to keep stuffed Kermit in a perpetual state of hugging with that little pink frog. My intern wakes in the middle of the night in a panic if Kermit loses his grip on 'Pickles' aka baby Kermit.

What better way to spend a rainy Saturday than with an armload of friends, especially when that friend is Kermit. And Pickles.

Kermit is jealous of my intern's boots.

Dream Pets by Dakin

When you've been obsessing over collecting toys for as long as I have, you have bits of knowledge that you have no idea how you came by. Things you just know.

For instance, I know the following two toys are Dream Pets, little stuffed animals from the fifties/sixties. And I also know for some odd reason that they were re-released a few years back.

What I didn't know is that I'd find two this past weekend, a re-issue and an original. For a buck each!

We first spotted the re-issue, 'Honolulu Harry,' at the flea market. My baby daughter immediately lit up when she saw him, and who can blame her? So we snapped him up for a buck.

A few hours later, we hit a garage sale and found this original 'Heinren Hippo.' Also for only a dollar. Well, I talked him down from two dollars.

Heinren Hippo has proven almost as popular as Honolulu Harry. And now my baby girl has an official collection of Dream Pets.

These Dream Pets are old school cool - velveteen skins around sawdust stuffing. Retro colors and design. They're just plain kitschy-cute!

I don't think I've ever seen a Dream Pet for sale anywhere (although I know I saw a collection of them at the Fair last year,) so it is super odd to have found two in one day at totally different locations. Moments like these make toy collecting fun!