A Tale of Two Giraffes

Last week at Target I let Sam play around in the toy isles for about 30 minutes. He had latched on to a small stuffed dog early on and I was sure that we would be adding it to our toy collection at home. (I'm a sucker.)

But, as we were leaving he spotted a bucket full of plastic animals that he had to check out. He quickly abandoned the stuffed dog for a plastic giraffe. When I thought that we were done choosing a new toy I placed him back into the shopping cart.

Sam started to cry pointing to the bucket.

"We are not taking them all. Pick one more. How about the elephant."

Sam smacked the elephant away with one loud, "Eh!"

"Monkey?"

"Eh."

"Rhino?"

"Eh."

It went on like this through a few more animals when I realized there was only one I had not yet offered him.

"The Giraffe? You already have one? Do you want the other?"

Sam immediately grabbed the identical giraffe from me and grinned.

And so started Sam's new obsession with giraffes. He finds them first thing in the morning and plays with them throughout the day. He stands them up next to each other on tables, chairs and the floor and exclaims "Whoa!"

And don't even think about taking them from him. It was love at first sight.

Its funny to me that I could spend all day in a toy store looking for the perfect thing for my son and I would NEVER decide on 2 plastic giraffes. No wonder we have so many ignored toys around the house.

From now on, Sam can pick out his own obscure entertainment. Hopefully, it will always be found in the $1 bucket :)