Benjamin loves the movie Cars. He received a few of the character cars for Christmas last year, and now whenever family visits, they add to his collection. Or when I see one he doesn’t have in the grocery store… But we’ve had to stop buying them on whim for him, as he’s come to expect it. Which lessens his overall contentment level.
He begged for the Sheriff car for months before I saw it in Meijer. Months.
“Wanta da Shewiff car, Mommy, wanta da Shewwwwiff.”
“Wanta get da Shewiff car at da store, Mommy.”
“Wanta get in da van and go to da store and get da Shewiff car, Moooooooommmmmmmmmmmy.”
After months of pining, I finally found it and bought it for him. Because my love language is gifts. And I love him. And the squeal of laughter and excitement that I heard the morning he found it beside his pillow is one I’ll never forget. Before he even got to our bedroom, I could hear, “I WEALLY WEALLY LIKE IT MOMMY!!”
But then, of course, he wanted more. And, of all cars, he focused on one named Snot-Rod. Who appears in the movie all of 2 minutes.
“Wanta to get in da van and go to da store and get da Snobrod, Mommmmmmy!”
To which I replied, “Honey, I just got you a car. I got you the Sheriff! Remember how badly you wanted the Sheriff? Why don’t you just enjoy the Sheriff a little more, okay?
“Wanta to get in da van and go to da store and take da Shewiff back and get the Snobrod, Mooooommmy.”
To which even Olivia replied, “You can’t do that, you took it out of the package!”
“Wanta to get in da van and go to da store and turn Shewiff into da Snobrod, Mooooooommy!”
It took awhile to convince him that we cannot turn one car into another car. I failed Transfiguration, doncha know.
So we went back to:
“Wanta to get in da van and go to da store and get da Snobrod, Mommmmmmmy.”
So I explained that we don’t have the money to buy all the cars he wants whenever he wants them.
“Wanta get in da van and go to da twain and go to Gammy and Pop Pop’s house. Mommy’s house has no money.”
Really? He wants to leave us? Over money? That hurts.
So we started talking about Christmas, since it’s closer than his March birthday. I asked him if he’d like the car for Christmas. Because he could have the car for Christmas, if that’s what he wanted.
“Yes. Wanta da Snobrob for Chwismus.”
Oh, good. We’ve reached a compromise.
“Wanta to get in da van and go to da store and get Chwismus.”
Nevermind.
Yup- we got the Cars obsession over here too!! But we have snotrod. 😛 Actually my hubby found a bunch of them at a garage sale for like 50 cents and bought them all up.
But our grocery store always has a couple of them in the checkout aisle!! Not cool! We’ve been on a “lellow race car” for weeks now!!
HA HA HA HA. Sounds like Lexi. She wants a Buzz Lightyear. and when i told her we didn’t have the money she said “Let me call Aunt Bethany, she will buy me Buzz.” and she got on the phone and called her. Amazing how kids just move on to the next person who has the money,
My best friend’s son is two. He is OBSESSED with cars. “KA-CHOW.” He says that repeatedly. And my poor, dear friend who is on a tight budget, cannot bear it when he wants a car. Or Lightning McQueen chair. Or bed. It’s rough 😉
LOL! Oh, that is a hoot! I’m sure I don’t have much longer until little Johnny wants a __________ .
I love how he always starts out, “get in the van.” Too cute!
Too funny. Love the way their minds work! Granted, he’s still young, but this might be worth a try . . .
our son was introduced to the world of Thomas trains by an Aunt (I will not hold it against her, I will not hold it against her, I will not . . .). And, he gets money from grandparents, etc. once in a while. So we figured out how many dollars he needed to save to get ______ train (we’ve done this for 4 of them now) and put the money in an envelope. And we count the dollars (use all 1’s it’s easier). A LOT. And talk about how many more he needs until he can buy the train.
It’s has helped him deal a bit with the wanting, and he’s learned some great lessons in managing money (like when we realized how over priced the trains were at TRU, but found another local store that had 1/2 off coupons for them!!!)
My boys are being raised with the understanding that there are three days of the year where they may ask for whatever they would like and Mom and Dad will try their best to get them exactly what they want. Christmas, Easter and birthdays. This is working really well because I can just let them know that Christmas is the next time they can request a toy and they are happy to store the request away. This is also great because they usually settle on one big gift because the momentary desires pass away. This doesn’t mean I don’t give them the candy or bouncy ball on rare occasions, but it makes taking them shopping so much easier.
It’s one of the hardest things for Moms because the kids often go with them to buy groceries or other necessities and it feels like they never get stuff while Mom gets things all the time. And two year olds have a really hard time with that!
“Mommy’s house has no money.” Harsh, yes, but also kind of hilarious. 🙂