Wal-Mart Wants

Well, it has arrived...the age of "I want, I need, Gimme". I tried to keep it at bay for as long as possible but last night reaffirmed what I thought was coming.

All day yesterday I kept putting off an impending trip to Wal-Mart. I needed to go and pick up some pictures that I had sent over from my digital camera but I really did not want to make the trip with both kids alone. It's not fun. The shopping carts are too small, there is too much going on and Nicholas goes NUTS! Inevitably we get there and Addison of course needs an extra bottle or decides to freak out or fill her ENTIRE diaper and pants! It's just not a fun experience- ever. Wal-Mart is an experience best done alone. I made the mistake of mentioning to Nicholas that we needed to make the trip and that's all I heard about for the rest of the day.
"We go to Wal-Mart?"
"Not right now, Nicholas. Maybe later."
45 minutes later, "We go to Wal-Mart?"
"Nicholas, not right now. It's time for a nap."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WE GO TO WAL-MART!"
If only this kid knew what it was really like!
Another 45 minutes later from Nicholas' room, "Moooooooommmmmmmyyyyy, Wal-Mart, PLEASE!!"
"Get in bed Nicholas or we're not going anywhere today!"
Silence...momentarily. Nicholas didn't sleep yesterday...no nap..barely slept last night and I'm fairly certain it was all related to Wal-Mart. I finally took him out of his room around 4 or so after trying to get him to rest for about an hour and do you know what the first thing he said to me was? "We go to the mall?" WHAT?!? How did we upgrade from Wal-Mart to the mall?!?! "No, Nicholas, no mall. MAYBE we'll go to Wal-Mart when Daddy gets home."
"When's daddy coming home?"
Oh, good Lord this could go on forever!

So, Pat came home from work and we ate our dinner and headed out the door. It was a double duty type of evening. We had to hit Blockbuster AND Wal-Mart. I know it's overly exciting how we spend our weeknights accompanied by our 2.5 year old and 6.5 month old! I had told Nicholas that if he was good and he listened he could maybe get a small toy or dvd at Wal-Mart. MY MISTAKE! I readily admit that!! As soon as we got in the store, "I get a toy? I get a DVD?"
"We'll see Nicholas. Let's get the other things we need, too."
I picked up my pictures and some diapers and wipes and then we meandered into the toy section. Add that on to our list of mistakes. Who knows? Maybe if we had avoided the toy aisles completely we wouldn't have what next ensued.

We began in the large toy area- bikes, powerwheels, wagons, etc. No interest...yes! Next came clearance...please let him find something here...something cheap and good and we're done! Yes...Thomas the train, and it's only $8.00. Then my husband points out, wait is it so cheap because it's covered in lead? Good call honey! No Thomas! Moving on....Dora toys...Diego toys...maybe...maybe...maybe...NOPE! Oh great, another entire aisle of Thomas! CRAP! This is the real stuff...the stuff that's expensive. This is where it all goes down. The child, Nicholas that is, begins to remove items from the shelves and all that can be heard is "oohh I want this! oohh this makes music, I want this! Ohhhh I WANT THIS ONE!!" And it continued on that way for at least 15 minutes! Thomas is expensive and I'm not comfortable with paying a lot of money for possibly lead laced toys! Let's try the next aisle! BOOKS! YES! BEST AISLE EVER! Nicholas wanders right through and back to Thomas...CRAP! "Mommmy, I want this one, it plays music!" I witness my child sitting on the floor of Wal-Mart playing with a Thomas the Tank Engine Laptop and LOVING it! CRAP, again! It's $30.00...a lot more than I wanted to spend on a little toy!
"Not tonight Nicholas. What about this great Thomas book? It makes noise!"
"No, This!"
It gets louder from here....it finishes with me putting the laptop back on the shelf and re-introducing Nicholas to the book aisle, again. Luckily, he spots a Diego painting book that he is just DYING for! We grab it and for only $4.97! YES! SUCCESS!

It has arrived and I'm not looking forward to Christmas. My son knows what he wants and he knows toys and I'm not excited about it! I think it's great that he has grown and changed and he's becoming a "real boy". But the toys and the Wal-Mart trips may have to dwindle slightly because the Wal-Mart experience is best done alone!