We have two new boys adopted into our family...

When I was a kid the dream was to get a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas (I can't remember what year it was... but I remember the desperate ache to own one). When I had boys I figured it would much simpler around Christmas, there would be no 'doll' that could ever win the hearts of my boys so much that I would have to hunt it down.

Of course, I was wrong! Thankfully it was something I discovered in the post Christmas rush and not before hand. Let's start at the beginning...

In the summer before Josh's surgery my Dad took Josh out for a fun day. They ended up in a toy store where Josh saw his first Millennium Falcon. He told us about it when he got home but we didn't hear much about it until in November when Tim and I were heading out for our trip. We always pick the boys up something fun while we are away, and so Josh announced that he wanted the 'star wars ship' and Kaleb wanted to bat-mobile. of course, we couldn't find what they wanted so I emailed them and told them that they would get a special toy but not the toys they requested because we could find them. Josh's response was to tell him Grandma that we had better look again. So, we decided that it would be something he got for Christmas. The search (in our budget) was extensive but my sister in Winnipeg finally found one! The batmobile was much easier to find. Christmas we figured would go off without a hitch. That is of course until Josh saw the rather large R2D2 (the one that brings you drinks etc.), the same one that costs $200 bucks! He asked Santa for him and told everyone who asked that he wanted the 'Starwars robot'... when asked about the ship he would say 'that can come next Christmas... ARGH!

We had a long talk with Josh about the robot, and that it was just too much money for Santa. If Santa had to buy a $200 toy for every kid in the world he would be bankrupt for next Christmas... So, we set up a way for him to earn the money for him to buy it himself. He began to save, and work (hard too) for this robot.

Christmas morning came and Josh was thrilled with his ship, not so thrilled with the tiny R2D2 that he got in his stocking from Santa... declaring 'oh, it's small'. I explained that he hadn't told Santa what size R2 should be and that for the moment was the end of the discussion. We went to the cottage and by some miracle (right before we left) my Mom found an old alarm clock that was actually an R2D2! It was larger and Josh was thrilled with it! I asked him the following day to do his chores to get his money and he said 'I don't want to' so I asked him how he would get his daily sticker to earn money for his robot, and he informed me that he already had a robot clock and didn't need to keep saving. So we talked about saving for something else and eventually he just did the job because I made him.

Then on Friday he saw his first 'talking minion'... and he wanted it. As it turns out, all that saving of his earned money and some from Christmas meant that both he and Kaleb had enough money to buy their own talking minion! They were of course thrilled. On Saturday I began to call stores to find out if they had any. (Josh wanted Dave, and Kaper wanted Tim). I finally got a guy on the phone at one of the Toys R Us locations and he said he only had two left. I asked which ones and he said he had one Dave and one Tim. However, he wasn't allowed to hold them because they were doing inventory... I have to admit. I begged and pleaded, swearing I was in the car and headed to his store to buy them... please hold them! Thankfully the guy took pity on me and put them on hold if I got there within the hour. So, end of story. I walked out of Toys R Us yesterday morning with two talking minions. Dave and Tim have very happily been adopted into our family and I am now a parent to two crazy boys and two even crazier minions! Josh kindly translates 'minion' talk for me and Kaleb hasn't let his go from the second he held him for the first time.

What is Josh saving for now? A talking Gru or Stewart... he hasn't decided yet. :S

UPDATE: After careful thinking on his part Josh has decided that he is in fact saving his money for a fart gun... the bliss of parenting boys ;)