Recall this!

Imagine my shock to discover that many of Annika's favorite toys were recalled.

Annika received Dora's Talking Dollhouse for her birthday, and it's been her favorite toy ever since. Chris and I had planned on a tricycle for her birthday, but she is long in the torso and short in the legs, so she wouldn't be able to use it right away. We walked by the Talking Dollhouse during a trip to Toys R Us, and a light bulb went off for me. "Pretend" games with dolls (my dolls of choice: Barbies) were my personal joy growing up, and Annika has such a developed imagination that I really liked the idea of continuing to feed that imagination at a reasonable price. It was win-win!

We promptly realized that the Dollhouse was really a Money Pit. Her favorite characters like Diego and Swiper ("No Swiping!") were not included. Furnishing for the home was limited to a purple couch - so we needed a kitchen set, bathroom fixtures and more. We also realized that Dora's parents recently welcomed twins to the family, and we had to get them, too.

It became Chris's mission to fully accessorize the manse once he realized Annika was in love with it. He would watch her walk Boots around (her very favorite) and stick Dora in Mommy's face and demand to "play Dora!" It was actually so sweet to watch Chris really want to encourage Annika with what was turning out to be an educational toy.

I was sickened and saddened after learning of the recall. In the article I link to, Mattel's action is "praised" by a consumer advocacy group for their quick action. Well, I'm not sure if I find it quick enough if my daughter has been playing with these toys for a month. In addition, the recall program is a joke. After you go through their (slooow) website to identify the offending toys, you're asked to "click here" to start processing your request for shipment labels so that Mattel can examine the toys to determine if they're affected. Oh, and the page never loads. Then you have to wait 6-8 weeks to get a voucher to get similarly-priced merchandise.

Wow! Lucky me - we get to tell Annika that she can't play with her favorite toys any more because they may make her sick, then we get to wait 2 months to get vouchers to buy more cheap crap from a brand I no longer trust. Yes, Mattel, you sure deserve all that praise. We really appreciate your swift action.