🧸 Parent’s Corner #2 — The Unicorn Incident

Hey friends,

Let me tell you a quick story.

A while ago, when the Color Factory was still in Chicago, we took our daughter to visit. If you’ve ever been, you know — it’s a magical explosion of color and light and confetti and joy. Pure childhood dreamland.

At the end of the experience, she was given a little foam unicorn as a souvenir. It was soft, squishy, pastel pink with just the right amount of sparkle. It didn’t make noise, didn’t light up, didn’t have five hundred detachable accessories. Just a simple foam unicorn.

She loved that thing. It slept beside her every night. It rode shotgun in the backseat. It even made a few guest appearances at our dinner table.

Fast forward a few months…

I’m walking down the hallway, and there’s my 1-year-old son — biting the head off the unicorn. Just full-on toddler zombie mode.

I’ll spare you the full drama, but let’s just say my daughter reacted like someone had just set her childhood on fire. We were in uncharted territory.

I panicked. I Googled.
I searched “foam unicorn pink Color Factory Chicago.”
Nothing.
Not a single lead.

In the days that followed, we bought four different unicorns.
Big ones. Furry ones. Glittery ones. One that sings.
None of them were her unicorn.

And it hit me — why doesn’t something like Shazam exist for toys?
Why can’t I just take a picture and find the exact one again?

So I built it.

It’s called ToyFinder — and it’s stupid simple.

Take a photo. Get a match. Buy it again. That’s it.
No logins. No 40-tab rabbit holes. Just peace (and maybe some parental redemption).

Of course, ToyFinder won’t fix every parenting problem.
But if it spares even one meltdown in the cereal aisle, I’ll call it a win.

This newsletter is where I’ll keep sharing little tools like this. Things I’ve built, found, or tripped over while trying to keep two kids alive and the toy box from overflowing.

If that sounds like your kind of vibe, stick around.

More soon —
Elijah
Your friendly neighborhood stay-at-home dad
Parenting by trial, error, and now… unicorns 🦄