Bob the Builder -- Vintage?

X-man loves Bob the Builder. Every time we're in the car and we pass a construction zone he shouts, "Bob the Builder, Mommy! Look! It's Bob the Builder!" He waves and gets all excited. 

"What is Bob building?" I'll ask.

"He's building a house! Build, Bob, Build! Can we build it? Yes we can!"

So, like any other mother, I figured Bob stuff would be key this holiday season. To begin with we started potty training over Thanksgiving and unlike folks who might have kids that just click with it. Mine goes back and forth (which I read is pretty normal). When he's home, I have him in a shirt but naked from the waist down. And 50 percent of the time he's right on the money. "Potty!" and off he runs. I follow and help him go pee pee, encourage him, reward him with his sticker and his Tootsie roll and back to playing we go. Other days, he stands up from playing with cars and I see a wet spot. I point it out to him and then, like Sunday, he says, "Yes, pee pee on the floor." And then he shows me two other spots where he peed while he was playing. 

We go sit on the potty for a bit. The last six drops of urine in his bladder come out while we're there talking about what the potty is for and how we need to stop what we're doing and listen to our bodies. He nods. Repeats the line that pee pee goes in the potty.

If he has three accidents in a 2-hour time frame, we stop and put on a diaper or a pull up (his choice). Which brings us back to Bob the Builder. The Wonder Twins have Bob the Builder easy ups. But apparently, Bob has fallen to the wayside and Diego has taken over as I searched two Meijers, a Wal-mart and Target for them. I found some on Amazon but they're not the right size. (I need a size 6.)

I approached Special K for info on where she might have gotten hers. And seriously the woman picked up the phone and called everywhere in town for me. How nice was that? But alas, no Bob. Only Diego.

I had the same problem when I walked into Toys R Us looking for Bob stuff. There was a small Bob the Builder tool set and lots of videos. I couldn't find a set of the vehicles anywhere. So I ordered him two online. Apparently, Bob has been replaced in the building field by Handy Manny and his talking tools.

I know all this character love is fleeting. I know he'll move on at some point (like when he still loved Thomas, but really only wanted to watch Bob for four months straight). But more and more the only places I can find Bob are on Ebay. Or from third party resellers on Amazon who jack up the price (say on plastic, disposable sippy cups that are usually $4 at the store to $12 -- not including shipping -- Yeah, I just said to hell with that.)

So while across the country house values and automobile values may be falling, you can apparently stock up on Bob the Builder crap and squeeze money out of desperate parents -- like me.

Or you can do what Freak recommended -- buy the cheap plain diapers and toys and put a Bob sticker on them. (She is a genius!)