Blocks

Now that Joseph sort of plays with toys (thus occasionally allowing me up to 5 minutes of free time, woohoo!), we decided to get some wooden blocks. We decided to splurge on a $3 dollar set from Walmart which was made in China. So, you know, not exactly the heirloom type, but they work well enough.

Except, they don't. Oh, they stack just great and have the letters of the alphabet on them like they're supposed to. But on the non-lettered and non-numbered faces of the cube, they have bizarre pictures.  And how am I supposed to be a good educational mom when Joseph's blocks have abstract art that I can't decipher on them?????

Here, let me show you.

Exhibit A:

Now what is that? A seal? An ermine? My guess is a cat, but where are its ears?

Exhibit B:

Is this some kind of saw? The remains of an eaten fish? I suppose if you turn it another direction . . .

Then it's a dragon. Or a sea monster. Or is it a horse? Am I supposed to teach Joseph that this is what a horse looks like?

Exhibit C:

Say what? Are these billiard balls? Men with only mouths, expectorating onto a triangle? This one seriously took me a while. But once I turned it the other way . . .

Oh. Heigh ho Cherry-O. That is a weird looking stem holding those cherries together, though.

 Exhibit D:

A bow and arrow? An arrow stabbing the moon? Hmm, let's rotate it.

Is it some kind of umbrella? That's still not right . . .

Oh, it's a tulip! With the weirdest blades ever.

Exhibit E:

 My guess is a bunny, but your guess is as good as mine.

Exhibit F:

An RV with a satellite dish attached on the left? A camcorder?

Oh, it's a jar!

You might be thinking, of course it's a jar and that other one was a flower. You might think I am being deliberately dense since the blocks are going to show everyday objects.

Well, I then retort, what is a

TRAM doing on the blocks then? Not a helicopter -- there's another picture that's definitely a helicopter. Nope, this is a tram. That doesn't seem like an everyday object to me.

So when you look at this and say

"Of course that's a TV!", I say, "You never know. That could be an oven with horns."

(Although, I am pretty sure it's supposed to be a TV.)

Now onto Exhibits H, I, and J. I really don't know what they are. Based on other blocks, I can tell you what I guess their orientations are supposed to be, but I'm stumped. And this is where you, dear blog reader, can be of assistance.

So, without further ado,

Exhibit H:

It's a house, that much I can tell. But what's sticking out?

Exhibit I:

To me, it looks like a man in a boat trying to send out distress signals. But remember, we're thinking everyday objects here (except for a tram). (ps I don't think it's candles, so I won't accept that answer.)

And finally . . .

Exhibit J:

What the . . . ? And this is the proper orientation, we're pretty sure! Any ideas?

If you can figure these out, that would be fabulous.  I'm despairing that Joseph's education will be lacking because his blocks are too ambiguous for me. Or worse, he won't even know what a proper horse looks like.

And that would be sad.

Like this.