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That’s what my son says when he sees toys, isn’t he so cute?!

Anyway, I bought the Oregonian yesterday to read up on the 9 million recalls from Mattel, catching up a bit on this. I woke up to it on the Today show as well.

Luckily, I don’t think we own any of these toys, particularly Mattel and Fisher Price stuff. The majority of my toys are from a company called Melissa and Doug, who makes primarily wooden toys and is fairly popular among the “natural” community.

While in Wild Oats a week ago, another mom pointed out that the Melissa and Doug toy we were looking at was made in China, therefor how do we even know about the lead problem since you can’t regulate the manufacturing plants overseas.

I didn’t think much about it because I was sure Melissa & Doug would not be so popular among environmentalists and activists without having some fairly strict regulations on the toys they make. Still, with everything going on, I wanted to poke around a bit and see what I could find.

If you are interested in the Melissa and Doug issue, here are a few links:

Natural Family Living Blog post
Little Kids Stuff says no lead paint on M & D train set
Finally, this post at Velveteen Mind - she actually called them- made me feel more sure. I’ve since learned she has called a second time with the same response. Though we WILL NOT hold her responsible if she turns out to be wrong

Now, I’m on to Brio… our train set and a few other toys are made from Switzerland based company Brio. From what I read, they try to keep manufacturing in Europe, though I read some one had a hand me down set from the mid-80’s that did contain lead. Lil’ E’s are all purchased in the last two years, which I have not heard anything so far about them being unsafe. Sheesh. This stuff is crazy. I’ll never shop at Walmart, Toys R Us, and maybe even Target again! lol Just Kids at Heart and Fennegan’s for me! And even there I’ve got to look through ingredients and shop smart- you just never know, huh?

I also want to point you in the direction of a cool “letter”/post that Imperfect Mommy wrote to the heads of companies like Mattel. It makes me so proud that other mommies are taking the health of their family in their own hands, already beginning to think of a Christmas without all the plastic and lead trimmings