It's All Your Fault Mom!

Now I'm not saying that I was a deprived child by any means. But I certainly wasn't spoiled, at least not the way my son is. I had a few VHS tapes (mostly ones my Grandma had made). Kai has a freaking Disney library! I don't remember having a lot of board games. And certainly not ones with tons of pieces. I had a TV in my room that was a yard sale find or a hand me down. I'm not complaining at all. I had everything I needed. My husband had the same kind of upbringing I did. Now that I have gotten the back story out of the way...

Brandon and I went shopping for Kai's birthday last night. We dropped Kai off with his grandma and headed to Walmart. Our first stop... electronics to pick up a 19in flat screen TV. Yep, a TV! Granted this was kind of a selfish purchase. The hand me down in his room doesn't work. And I can't watch Jungle Book EVERY DAY. Plus my mom bought him 9 dvd's to add to the library. Now a well adjusted parent would stop there. We OBVIOUSLY aren't well adjusted. So on to the toys! We head to the games section and my husband picks out Kerplunk... perfect game for a 4 year old. Not me... I see Mouse Trap (a game I couldn't have as a kid... too many parts). So I say "Ohhhh I always wanted that game." Apparently Brandon grew up with the same too many parts rule. So in the cart goes Mouse Trap. Then a Yo Gabba Gabba card game, and a Cars puzzle. Then Brandon sighs and says, "Now you know he will freak out if he doesn't get any cars." After a very stressful decision between a monster truck race track and a Cars track the Cars color change paint garage thing goes in the cart. But wait! It only comes with one car... well that won't do! So we grab one of every color change car there is... (what? He didn't have Sarge yet....)

Okay, we are finally done with toys but what about his party? Again a sane person gets a bag of plain paper plates and some silverware.... DONE. What do we do? Well he loves Cars so we have to do a Cars themed party DUH! Cars table cloth... check. Cars decorations and gift bags and stickers..... check. We did show a little self restraint when we resisted the Lightening McQueen pinata. Then of course he must have a cake. And since we have committed to a cars theme we have to get a Cars cake.

What makes this whole thing even worse is that we do this EVERY YEAR! Last year we got him a Power Wheels 4 wheeler... He couldn't even reach the gas pedal... For some reason our normally frugal lifestyle goes completely out the window when Kai's Birthday comes. We are living vicariously through a 4 year old. Buying him 9000 piece K'NEX kits, and power wheels, and games with tons of tiny little pieces. But I have to say we love every minute of it. He is our little munchkin and he deserves the best.