I had written about Christmas and the VTech Little Smart Alphabet Picture Desk he so coveted a few times. Several days after Christmas he had finally found the words to tell me that Santa had brought the WRONG one. Since that time I had been scanning the internet sites looking for the "right" one with little luck. I had found one, but the guy selling it had a TERRIBLE seller rating and a few comments from angry buyers looking for their product. I thought that was probably a disaster waiting to happen, so I didn't bid on it. The only thing worse than the wrong one, is paying for it and it never arriving! So I played it safe and kept looking. I couldn't find it. Every few days Daniel would ask about it and say in his sweet voice, "but I really want that". It might sound demanding here, but he says it with such love and longing and really, he almost never asks for anything. When he a. finds something he loves and b. finds the words to ask and express his desire, it is almost more than I can handle, and I want to find it for him. Daniel's requests were getting less frequent as time was passing and it was slowly working itself out of my head.
Then I received an email from a reader. She is also a friend of mine who lives here in East Lansing. She has been very supportive of my blog and of my family. Her daughter and my youngest son, Zachary, are the same age. She sent me a very nice email about my blog then had a link at the bottom saying, "you've probably seen this, but is this it?" I clicked on it, and it LOOKED right to me, but I've been down this road before, and I was wrong. So I decided that before moving forward I would wait and show it to Daniel. After school that day I showed him the link and his little eyes lit up and he said, "let's get it". I tried to explain that it was on E-Bay and you have to "bid" on it and there is a possibility that we might not win. There was something like 5 days left on it, but I put in the first bid and let it sit. Zachary, being ever so helpful, said he was SURE we'd win because who else in the world would want that? I told him he may be surprised, because it is amazing what people want out there, and if we wanted it, why wouldn't someone else in the world? He was doubtful.
When Sunday rolled around I remembered that it was the final day. All day I kept telling myself DON'T FORGET TO WATCH EBAY, DON'T FORGET TO WATCH EBAY. I'm not very good at that sort of thing and I've been known to let the deadlines slip by unnoticed. I hadn't mentioned it again to Daniel, for fear of losing. When I checked back, two other people had bid on it. There was going to be a war....I knew it. I waited until just before to up my maximum bid. I talked to my husband about what exactly were we willing to pay for this thing? I was starting to feel anxious and just wanted to win, which is of course why E Bay is so wildly popular. Obsessive people like myself get carried away and pay way more for something than they should. It makes the seller happy and everyone is a winner...sort of. The only good news to me is that both of the bidders were amateurs like myself. You can see how many items people have bought, so I sort of figured they wouldn't have one of those programs that outbids me at the last possible second. Which has happened to me, by the way.
Anyway, we won! Now I just was hoping it would arrive and WORK. As I mentioned, it did arrive, yesterday, with batteries included. I waited to open the box until Daniel was there to do it with me. It came out of those Styrofoam peanuts and I swear you could hear the angels singing! He said, "oh there it is! It's the right one!" He sat down and started playing with it. Ignoring his usual after school rituals. He hadn't moved one foot from the spot where we opened it. I suggested he get his snack, because if he doesn't eat he gets super crabby. Zachary and I were playing Rummikub in the kitchen and Daniel, instead of bringing the toy with him to the kitchen, was getting his Saltines out (10 of them exactly, not broken in any way please!) and his Poptart (I know, terrible) and he kept sprinting back into the family room to hit a button when it would start playing. Back and forth, not wanting to miss a thing. It was so adorable! He was IN.HIS.GLORY. It was wonderful.
Eventually my husband came home from work. Daniel was still playing. He showed it to Todd and said "Look it has a handle" as if that was the most important thing ever, it implied portability, I'm sure. It was finally Christmas morning in the Sneathen house, as far as Daniel was concerned. Thanks Michele (I am not talking to myself in the 3rd person, that's who sent me the link :) You are an incredible friend!
Seriously? How happy is he? How cute is he? Notice the box right behind him. That is how far he made it. This falls under the category of "better late than never". Merry Christmas?
