G-rex
By night, he's mild-mannered G-man, sleeping quietly and bringing peace to the land. But by day, he instantly transforms into...dum de dum...G-rex! And his sidekick, Dogzilla.
While I appreciate and encourage his interest in dinosaurs, his new identity as G-rex is a bit unwelcome. And since most of his dinosaur books and toys do nothing but interrupt baths (as in "Dinosaur! by Peter Sis), hang out on puzzles, shirts and jammies, pop-out and drink from straws ("Flapadoodle Dinosaur" by David Carter), or hitch a ride on a passing dump truck in our living room, I don't think he's just imitating something he's seen. This is his own personality creation.
What does G-rex do? Destroy. Ravage and destroy.
The G-man is on a mission to break a toy a day. And he's pretty good at it. His bus is missing its mirrors; the horse trailer lost a wheel and almost a door; puzzle pieces are ripped in half; the trains, table and track all have scratches/chips out of them; crayons are nubs; books are torn; our floors will never be the same.
This is mostly because his new favorite hobby is throwing things. Launching things. Sometimes for fun, sometimes in frustration, always resulting in trouble. He can't take something off a shelf, he has to push it off. He can't move the track from the table, he has to do a raucous full body sweep. Add to that the 'topple effect': if it's stacked, it must be felled. He simply can't stand to see something just sitting there. Like him, all toys must be in motion. It's like toy abuse. They need a hot line.
Is this a phase? I hope so. We've tried time out to little success. Our current tactic is to take away the victim(s) to at least save them for one more day. But how to actually stop it from happening in the first place? I don't know. I'm asking you.
As for Dogzilla, well, Tino simply has no idea how big he is, no concept of his own spatial relations, can't figure out how to move when he's in the way, lacks all aspects of grace and has yet to discover the things on the end of his paws are claws. He is a lost cause but oh, will G-rex soon be extinct?
