In yesterday's episode, Ron and the kids visited their Auntie C., leaving Becky at home with her cleaning supplies and a peaceful house. When the kids returned...
Sammy found me in the bathroom, scrubbing out the sink. His face was puffy, and his voice was shaky. I immediately dropped my sponge. "What's wrong?!" I said, looking from him to Ron for an answer.
He was barely able to choke out the words. "I l-l-l-left my c-c-c-c-c-ar at Auntie C.'s hou-ou-ou-ou-se!!!!" he wailed.
Flashback scene: Earlier in the day, I'd run errands with the kids and we didn't get home until well after lunchtime. The kids were cranky, and I had a trunkful of groceries to unload, so I decided to stop at Micky D's for lunch, a rare treat in our household. Even rarer, I ordered a Happy Meal for the kids to split. I don't think Sammy even knew until now that McDonald's had toys. I might live to regret this rash decision.
"Boy or girl toy?" they asked. "Boy," I said, since Natalie's too young to know or care that she was getting a raw deal. I knew she'd be happy fighting with Sammy over whatever toy they got.
It was a blue Hot Wheels car, that you pulled back and then it would race forward. Sammy was thrilled, and insisted on bringing it to Auntie C.'s house later, to show everyone. You know what happened after that.
I have never seen him so upset about anything. Honestly. It was like the end of his little world. It was 8:30 at night, and Auntie C. lives half an hour away, so I was not about to drive an hour to rescue his 50-cent toy car, but I had visions of fresh bread dancing in my head all day and still needed to make a trip to Target for yeast. And McDonald's is on the way to Target, so yep, I told Sammy I'd stop and get another car for him. I know, if I was hearing someone else tell this story, I'd probably think they were overindulgent, but let me tell you, I have never seen him so happy. If another $2.50 Happy Meal is all it takes to turn his whole world right-side-up again, so be it.
I did tell him to enjoy it, because it's the last time he'll ever go to McDonald's twice in one day, on my watch.
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You know, with an older kid this might be a learning lesson--"I'm so sorry, but next time you need to remember to bring your toys home with you." But with a kid his age... I actually think it makes sense to calm him down in that way. We can't expect our under-three-year-olds to remember everyhing--I would have considered it $2.50 well-spent too!
ReplyDeleteBeth, I agree about using it as a learning lesson at some point -which is probably why I second-guessed myself afterwards. I know I have a tendency towards overindulgence with the kids, and it's something I'm working on!
ReplyDeleteYou know you could have just bought the toy for like $1 instead of getting the entire meal?! LoL I would have probably done the same thing though... or since we have about 1376 other hotwheels I would have given him one of those HA!
ReplyDeleteBri, I didn't know that you could buy the toy separately! Good information. Though, I probably would have felt silly going through the drive-through just to say "One Happy Meal toy, please - hold the Meal."
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