May 18, 2011

Fifty-Eight Quarters, a Two-Year Old, and Toys R Us

Recently, I wrote a post about how my son has been earning quarters from cleaning up his toys, how he takes his first earnings to his Sunday School class every week, and how he puts the rest in a savings jar.  You can read about it in The Giving Envelope and the Savings Jar post.

The question I've been waiting for finally came..."Mommy, can I buy a toy at the store?"  So, I decided to take him to this store:
I know.  I'm crazy.  But, it actually went very well.  Before we went, we counted his quarters in his savings jar.  Fifty-eight!  That's $14.50!  When I asked him if he wanted to buy a special toy with his commissions, he responded by saying, "Hahahaha!  THANK you!"  So, my husband, son, and I all set out for Toys R Us.

When we got there, there was only one question to ask:  Where is the Toy Story section?  My son's obsessed.  He was Sheriff Woody for Halloween, and he still wears his Sheriff Woody hat, holster, and boots around the house.  He constantly plays with his Buzz Lightyear action figure, Pizza Planet Lego truck, and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads.  And the Toy Story movies are his absolute favorites, which get played for many Family Movie Nights in our house.  He told me that he wanted a Jesse and a Sheriff Woody riding Bullseye, but they were sold out of the smaller versions that he wanted.  We went out of our way to go to THE toy store of all toy stores, and they were sold out?  They had bigger versions, but they were ridiculously too big.  Try breaking that news to a two-year old.  Just as I was preparing myself to comfort a very disappointed little boy whose cute little bottom lip started to quiver with tears quietly welling up in his eyes, he saw this and got really excited:
It was a garbage truck, like in Toy Story 3, that came with a small Pizza Planet alien and a tiny Sheriff Woody that can drive the truck.  Suddenly, all was well with the world again, he wiped his own little tears away, and beamed from ear to ear.  It wasn't five seconds before we heard him say, "Can I have that?"

When we went to the check-out line, I was sure that the cashier was going to hate us since we were paying with quarters.  But she was very patient and sweet with him.  When we walked out of the store, my son carried the bag with the toy that he bought.  He couldn't have been more happy or more proud!  Neither could his mommy or daddy!