Rule #4 - It's always about the box, never the present

To a certain point, I want my buddy to grow up. I want to take him to sporting events, shows, and actually go on a date with my little dude. But then there are the times when we're sitting in a mall, sharing a pretzel, where I remind myself that when he's old enough to choose to go to the mall, it aint gonna be with me. That's when I look at James, cheeks packed full of food, swinging his legs on the chair and kiss him.

But I still wanna take him places. Like Build-A-Bear. James used to be able to wear Build-A-Bear clothes...but I wanted to take him to actually buy a toy to put those clothes on.

I kept telling myself that we wouldn't step foot in that store until he was at LEAST 3. I'd spend a ton of money and he'd just toss the new creation with the other toys he has. Well, rational thought must have escaped me yesterday, because in we went.

James is an animal FREAK (he gets that from his Mom, I think). Anyway, he picked out the elephant and looked pretty jipped when I handed him the deflated "skin" of the elephant. (Sorry, baby, Mommy can't afford a fat elephant!). We walked over to the stuffing station where my son attempted to eat all the hearts sitting in the box for all the other creatures. Nice. Wide-eyed and jaw dropped, he watched the nice lady sew up his now stuffed elephant and then we went over to the "grooming station".

I gave James a brush and told him to comb his elephant's hair. Rightfully so, I just got a blank stare. "Comb where the elephant is SUPPOSED to have hair", I told him. He did. Next, came the bath. James LOVED the bath. You stand on the pedal and air just blows out of this machine. And that's what he did. He didn't STEP on the pedal; he stood on it. I was beginning to wish we could take the tub home and leave the elephant. It was a riot to him and he couldn't stop laughing.

I managed to pry him away from the tub (wish we had this problem in REAL life) and asked him to pick out a shirt for his elephant. He picked out the ugliest, tackiest red polo I'd ever seen. I put it back and asked him to pick a different one. He scanned the selection and picked up the polo again. (This is why James doesn't buy his own clothes...yet) Fine. It's his elephant, he can wear the ugly shirt. James wanted the elephant to go commando, but I finally had him satisfied with a pair of black shorts.

At this point, he wouldn't put the elephant down. All the way to car, he played with him and made elephant noises. I was pretty impressed with myself at that point and felt the $38 (Ridiculous right?!) I spent was not a waste. On the ride home, I'd look back and he'd be playing with the elephant, making him dance, or pointing at his tusks asking me "what's that?" Then I looked at him with the rear view mirror. He had the elephant on his lap and was looking out the window. When I turned around he looked startled and picked up the elephant, making him dance again.

I soon realized my son was only playing with the elephant when I was looking at him...he could care less about his new toy if I wasn't looking! Right. So as of this day, I have vowed to never spend more than $20 on ANY toy, because he'll either be into it for a few seconds or he'd just rather play with the box.