The Wish List

My son’s understanding of “wish list” is not exactly accurate.   The thing about a wish list from a parent’s perspective is you can take that very excited, “Mom, I really, really want this thing!” energy and redirect it to the wish list.   This pretty much works anywhere.   You can be in the toy store and have no arguments, whining or tantrums simply because you say, “that does look great, do you want to put it on your wish list?”

My son is always glad to put something on his list.   He forgets it exists for periods of time and then other times, like this week, I’ve had to tell him he can only add three things a day to his list.  

I inadvertently added complications to how my son understood the world of wish list by telling him I had ordered him something from China that I found on a web site.    No where in this did I say ‘wish list’ but there was ordering from online and it was coming for him and I wouldn’t tell him what it was and somehow things got confused in his mind.

This past week he’s asked me when the thing I ordered for him was going to arrive, and then would follow it with, “when are my wish list things coming?”  Following those comments were explanations about how wish lists were things we liked that our friends or family might buy for us on our birthdays or for Christmas.   I explained that the act of adding an item to his wish list did not kick off a purchase and mail process, resulting in the item being delivered by Amazon two days later.   He didn’t get it.

He did understand though that he needed someone to buy the item off his wish list for it to make it to him.   It was about this time (at 7:25AM yesterday) that he asked if he could call Mimi (AKA “purchasing target”).   I told him she was sleeping but he could call her later.

This afternoon, after being cut off from adding more things to his wish list, he asked me if he could call Mimi.   I said, “you’re not going to ask her to buy you your wish list things, are you?”   He said slowly and carefully, “no, I just wanted to tell her I love her.”   Okay, I think, knowing full well his explanation was a cover for his true intentions.

We called Mimi and when she answered, he did tell her first thing he loved her.   Then, without any transition, he launched into, “Mimi, would you but me <first item> from my wish list?”   This was followed up with an explantation and then the request for the next item on his wish list.    Mimi didn’t laugh at all and only asked him to have me let her know how to find the item so she knew exactly what he meant.

When my mother and I talked, we both laughed at the clever and yet obvious plan he had to try and get a new toy.  

The Big Boy Update: I ordered my son a light up Spider Man mask, thinking he would like it since he’s wearing out his halloween costumes wearing them so much around the house.   When the package arrived in the mail today I was happy to show my son.   He looked at it and said, “I’m kind of phased out of that…but that’s okay.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter really likes “Soil Sauce”.   What, you’ve never heard of the stuff?  It’s fantastic.   Most of us call it “Soy Sauce” though.    Still, good eating.