Wondering what Cyber Monday will hold here at Ty’s Toy Box? Wonder no more, as there’ll be a whole new crop of specials for one day only on Monday, November 26th, 2007.

Did you know that Cyber Monday began as a marketing campaign, and was—initially, anyway—a hoax? There was no evidence to suggest that people did any more online shopping the Monday after Thanksgiving than at any other time. But it has since become the very definition of a self-fulfilling prophecy, and now e-tailers everywhere gear up for a flurry of fingers shop-shop-shopping on this famous Monday.

Ready for a sneak peak at Monday’s deals? Read on to find out how planning ahead can score you some big bargain’s during Ty’s Cyber Monday Sale: (more…)

I loved Curious George when I was a child, and so when I became a mother, myself, I of course picked up those ubiquitous yellow books, eager to share them with my own children. Perhaps you can imagine my surprise to discover that the lovable little monkey I remembered so fondly was… well, he was a lot bigger troublemaker than I remembered.

Every story follows the same basic structure: George is left alone when the Man with the Yellow Hat has to go off somewhere (and doesn’t have money for a monkeysitter?); George cannot resist either touching something he shouldn’t or wandering off somewhere he wasn’t supposed to; something catastrophic happens; George is scolded; George cries; something marginally good comes of this; everyone laughs and forgives George.

That George was kind of a hoodlum, honestly. But you couldn’t be angry with him for long, because he’s a cute monkey. Which is more or less a summation of most people’s parenting experience, come to think of it….

Anyway, I got over my horror at what a terrible role model George is (and really, there’s an argument to be made for not looking to primates for your role models), I found myself reliving how hilarious his adventures are. My kids were hooked.

When the animated show came to PBS, it’s true that my kids were already a little bit too old for it. But you know what? We watched it anyway. Just because it’s funny, and George is irresistible. Oh, sure—my kids tried to pretend they were watching something else, sometimes, until finally we all had to admit that it’s just the sort of show that’s funny no matter how young or old you are.

And now there’s a whole new Curious George Store at Ty’s Toy Box and I’m nostalgic for the days when my kids were really little, again. I can’t help it. I mean, yes, I suppose that technically sending my son to school in these would be tantamount to taping a “Kick Me” sign to his back, but is that any reason not to offer them in his size?

Welcome to Ty’s, Curious George. Don’t ever stop being cute. (You might want to stop flooding the house, causing chaos at the hospital, sailing away on a kite, and letting all the baby bunnies out, though.)