Hell, if Calvin and Hobbes can go off on Martian adventures in cardboard boxes, surely my son can be creative. Toys, in my opinion, were a waste of money before a child is old enough to really appreciate them.

Like many notions I held prior to having a child, this one was quickly challenged by reality.

Flash forward to tonight, two years later.

Scene: Me pushing the shopping cart through Target, my son pointing at every toy and saying some variation of I want.

“I want the truck, I want the car, ooh, I want that (not even knowing what the toy he was pointing at was).”

I intended to just pick up a cheap car from the movie, Cars or a motorcycle, as he seems utterly fascinated by them.

While I was originally opposed to buying toys, I have come around. I enjoy giving him things he enjoys. E is a good kid and is not even close to being spoiled. He is active and we spend lots of time together, so I’m not concerned with the whole “making up for other parental deficits by buying toys” argument. And until tonight, he had never really pestered us for things he wanted.

Another vow I made prior to having a child — I will never bring My Child to the store with me. I am not going to be one of those parents teetering on the edge of sanity shouting or smacking the crap out of their kids in the middle of the store.

Yet, here I am, bringing my son to the store. A store with toys no less!

I want, I want, I want, I want.

Once in the toy aisle, E HAD TO HAVE one of the more expensive Cars vehicles on the shelves — a Dinoco Racing Team which includes a truck (that he thinks is Mac) and trailer, a car and a mini-forklift. Though it’s not a whole lot bigger than a standard Matchbox car, it cost nearly $20.

The look in his eye as he examined the box was priceless, though. So, I bought it. (sucker!)

Though I am sure my wife will be upset once she reads how much the truck cost, my will melted immediately when I saw how much E wanted it.

As we drove home, he held the box in his car seat, turning it over, tilting his head just so, and examining it. It seemed as if he were imagining the truck out of the box and on his living room floor. It’s the first time I saw him respond like that to a toy. Though, he did do sing “Sally, Sally, Sally, Sally” and dance around the house when I brought home a Sally car last month (also from the movie, Cars, in case you are among those not yet forced to see every Pixar movie).

So, there we sat on the floor playing cars together and I watched him. One of my favorite things to do is watch E when he tunes everybody else out and is playing by himself. I love watching his imagination develop as he recreates things from his experiences.

So, I didn’t feel too bad about spending $20 since we don’t do it often and he is not a demanding child.

Then, about 20 minutes later, the rug came flying out from under me.

“Another Mac?” he asked.

Huh?

“Another Mac? Go to Wal-Mart, get another Mac?”

Oh no.

Apparently, he wanted to go back and get one of the other trucks that were there, including the actual red Mac truck.

I told him we didn’t go to Wal-Mart, we went to Target and no, we can’t just go get another truck.

“Daddy, go to store?” he asked. When I said no, he then shouted “Daddy go to store!”

Thank God my wife wasn’t home. I’m sure she’d give me one of those, “see what you started?” glares.

So, I pulled E aside and sat him on my lap and tried my best to explain that we just can’t go to the store and get things we want. They cost money. And that particular truck cost daddy a lot of money and daddy doesn’t have enough money to go get more trucks.

I know it’s difficult, if not impossible, to explain a concept like money to a two year old. Yet, I tried my best.

“Do you understand?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, in his soft, hoarse voice, eyes big, wide and sweet.

And it was a sweet moment.

We sat back down and played with his cars. Well, for 10 minutes, anyway. Then he was back at the door asking, “go to store?”

Edit: That was the original ending to this post. However, an even better one. Guess who woke up at 5:40 a.m. wanting to play “Cars.” Yup, you got it.

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My son E has loved the company of four kids to play with. The youngest of them is a few months younger than he, the oldest is nine. He is learning to share his toys (with varying degrees of success) and he is also learning to share their toys.

There’s one in particular he has taken a shine to.

In fact, you can say he is transfixed. The other day, I noticed he was sitting quietly at a table. Quieter than usual. His back was to me, so I couldn’t see what was holding his interest so much. Then he turned and I saw in his hands, a purple horse.

No, not a horse, but a purple pony.

A purple My Little Pony.

And he was brushing its hair.

Woah, my inner guy said, that’s a girl’s toy!

Being an open minded sort, the idealist in me has always said that I won’t force my son to play sports, play with masculine toys or do typically ‘manly’ activities like some dads I’ve known. I’ve always been of the opinion that my kids will like what they like and I won’t try to influence them.

However, I don’t want to push my son over the edge by giving him a girly toy. I mean, this thing couldn’t be more feminine if it were pink with a big flower on its rear!

I didn’t react, though. In fact, it was cute to watch him pay careful attention while brushing the horse’s mane with the tiny plastic brush.

To date, he has gravitated towards boyish toys such as cars, trucks and it took him a while to actually WANT to sleep with a teddy bear in his crib.

Suddenly, his cousin realized that E had her pony and snatched it back. She’s not so big into sharing.

E’s mouth opened wide, his face turned red and he burst into tears. My son was crying over a My Little Pony.

“Horse,” he cried out, pointing to the toy which was ‘stolen’ from him.

Something about calling it a horse made it a bit less girly, though.

I began to have an internal debate whether or not I should actually buy him a My Little Pony he can call his own (and brush its pretty hair).

Is this a gateway to Barbie Dolls?

Speaking of which, have you seen how revealing Barbie’s clothes are these days?! I almost felt like I might be carded if I bought one. I won’t even get into the Bratz dolls, those little streetwalking tarts.

So, later on, while I was at my ‘favorite’ store (Target), I decided to look for a My Little Pony. However, none of them had brushes! All of the ponies came with other accessories such as a purse, a hat and a tennis racket. A tennis racket! How the hell is a pony supposed to play tennis?! I would not at all have been surprised to see a My Little Pony with a chef’s hat and a mixing bowl strapped to its leg.

And all the ponies were SUPER GIRLY! Yes, they even had a pink one with a flower on its rear!

I just couldn’t bring myself to buy one. I guess I’m not nearly as open minded in practice as I am in thought.

Then this morning, as my son was waking up, I heard him mumbling to himself as he tends to do, each word ramping up in frustration to be rescued from his crib, eventually becoming words cried out. Oftentimes, he’ll say stuff like mommy, daddy, or he’ll mention something he really wants to do, like watch the movie Cars or play Word World.

Today, he said something else upon waking.

“Horsey,” he cried.

So, I’m going to find a store that has a My Little Pony with a brush. And I will buy it for my son.

Unless its pink and there’s a big flower on its butt.

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