I mentioned yesterday that Rowan was going to pick out his own birthday gift. He doesn’t always love new things, so we thought it might be nice for him to get a chance to really look around and have a say in his gift. Same with his dessert! Would you believe he picked those sawdust cookies from Walmart? Lol! Ya, he definitely did. The pink ones with sprinkles. They were $3.
Since we were at Walmart, we figured we were in the right place to look for a present. Now we hadn’t given him the ok to go full bore and pick anything, but we hadn’t set a specific number or guideline. He could just look around and see what he liked. The first thing he mentioned was a big stuffed toy next to an Easter display. His little crowd of admirers (siblings) was eagerly encouraging him to choose it. He stared at me, wide-eyed. “Can I really have this??” I looked at it, dreading the presence of such a big stuffed toy in my house, and suggested we do a bit more looking before we decide. He happily went along with that.
When we got to the toy section, I could tell he was instantly overwhelmed. He was excited, but with all the kids suggesting thing after thing, he seemed to just submit. “Ok, I could have that” was said over and over again. We were only halfway down the first aisle. I tried to help him regroup, and I gave him a few options. But he just couldn’t focus. It was too much.
I thought back to the first thing he had seen. That stuffed animal. He would’ve been so happy to just walk out with that right in the beginning. And honestly, I would’ve been THRILLED as a kid to get a stuffed toy like that. So I asked him, if we said he could, would he want that stuffie.
“Yes, I really really would!”
Sigh.
Thats how we headed home with a giant rainbow striped llama in our van.
Rowan was SO SO HAPPY. We had plans to have supper with my mom, and he insisted on bringing the llama in. The poor thing was a trampoline all evening, but it was well loved. Ro made up for the rowdiness with soft snuggles on the drive home.
All in all, Rowan’s recap of his birthday is that he had a really fun day. A very Ro-style day. I’m happy he’s happy, and I’m happy he’s in our family. And I’m happy we now have a llama. Sort of.