Next Time

I wish I had a gazillion dollars and a humongous house so that I could buy my children all their heart’s desires. Nothing is harder for me than telling my kids “no” when they ask me to buy them something. If it is in our budget we do not hesitate to buy it! Unfortunately, a lot of the cool toys and electronic gadgets are not always in our budget.

Desiree and Alana never really ask us to buy them anything. When they do, it’s not usually anything outrageous but I think it’s because they’re old enough to know what we can afford. I know that if we could afford to buy them the things that they REALLY want, they’d ask for it. Who wouldn’t want an IPAD or I-Touch? Or flat screen TV for their room? Or fabulous wardrobe? Shoot, if I could, I would – that’s a win-win for us all!

Katelyn can be persistent to the point of driving us crazy when SHE wants something. She does not take NO for answer. When we tell Katelyn no, we have to be prepared for lots and lots of crying coupled with begging and pleading that turns into anger then reverts back to sadness. The whole time she will keep talking – complaining about the unfairness of it all, arguing with us about why she thinks she deserves it or needs it, hating us for not complying with her wishes. She can go on this way for a long time, too. Sometimes we have to send her into another room to vent her frustrations because it gets too much for any of us to handle.

Jacob is still at the age where we can get away with telling him “next time”. He’s also at that age where is SO, SO cute and it breaks my heart into tiny pieces when the look of excitement on his face crumples, he puts the toy back on the shelf and says “ooookkkaaaay…” Remember when I was so concerned because all he wanted to play with was his sisters toys (princess and my little pony, to name a few)? Well, he likes toys that are for BOYS now! And I can’t always buy these for him! And it kills me!!!! He remembers all the toys he wanted to get that we ask for him to put back for “next time”. Every night, he’ll remind me: “Mommy, you buy me the Iron Man Helmet next time, ok? And the Iron Man Robot. And you get me Jessie [from Toy Story] next time, ok? And the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and Zsu-Zsu pets. You get that next time, ok?” and I tell him all the time, “Ok, baby, I’ll get that for you next time.”

I can tell the one toy he really, REALLY wants is the Iron Man Helmet:

How do I know? Well, it’s really quite easy to figure out. This is Jacob’s version of his own Iron Man Helmet:

He runs around the house, pretending to fly like Iron Man, wearing that drum over his head. He slaps the side of the drum and says, “I am Iron Man!” (the REAL helmet says phrases like this when you push the buttons on the ear). He runs up to me wearing the drum over his head, holds his hand out, palm facing me and pretends to blast me away before he swooshes off to go save Pepper Pots.

We wanted to buy him this for Christmas but I don’t know if I can hold out that long. Every time I see him running around with the drum over his head, it makes me laugh but I also kind of feel bad for him. I guess we could always get him something else for Christmas – there’s always Iron Man Robot, Jessie or the Potato Heads from Toy Story or Zsu-Zsu pets??

Oh, and because it’s only fair, Jacob has offered to buy me THIS in return:

No, I did not ask for these products but apparently he saw commercials for it and assumed that I really wanted it. We saw a commercial together and he said, “You want that, mommy? I buy you that ok? I’ll buy you OXYCLEAN.” And every time we walk down the laundry aisle in the grocery store, he sees it and reminds me that he’ll get it for me next time. How thoughtful of him. =)