indulgence

Since Little Miss J is our first child (and perhaps only), we tend to overindulge her a bit. The best part of my weekend was a side trip to Target where we told her to pick out a toy. This came about because it was brought to my attention that the other week when I was in California, Gus had taken her to Target every. single. day. He told me that she had picked out a watering can from the toy aisle and he bought it for her. Since I missed out on the whole toy-picking process, I wanted to see her do it.

For starters, she refused to sit in the part of the cart where little girls are supposed to sit, so she has already been indulged and allowed to sit in the basket of the cart. In the toy aisle, she stands up in the cart and picks out the watering can again. Gus tries to tempt her with a bucket instead, at which point she decides she wants the bigger bucket, the one that comes with all sorts of other toys inside. Unfortunately, Gus can't seem to talk her down to the smaller bucket again. Even the compromise of a smaller bucket that comes with extra toys inside can't dissuade her from the big bucket. So, we leave the toy aisle and walk around Target some more eventually circling back to the toy aisle. By now, she has quit asking for the big bucket and is now asking for this inflatable ball pit (which personally I thought looked pretty awesome). She keeps saying "please," and when Gus holds it up to ask if it was what she wanted she nods her little head so hard that I think she might get whiplash. I actually think Gus was mere moments away from acquiescing until he realizes the ball pit only comes with 20 balls (despite the picture on the front that shows at least 250 balls) and he will have to buy another set of balls bringing the total cost to something astronomical considering this is really just an exercise in indulging Mom and letting her see how Little Miss J picks out her own toys. Well, we managed to make it out of there with no ball pit and more importantly no tears. She finally picked out a shiny gold and silver pinwheel and the look on her little face when she sat in that cart waving that thing around was priceless.

Throughout the whole process, Gus and I just kept looking at each other and cracking up because every time she picked out a new toy it was a bigger more expensive one. Seeing her express her preferences in such an insistent manner, had us thoroughly entertained at Target. I get the feeling that this little cutie is going to be getting away with murder. No parent of the year awards for us, but fun times nonetheless. Little Miss J has brought us a lifetime of joy and entertainment in just 18 short months.