We found it difficult this past Christmas to decide on what present Santa would be bringing our son. He already had many toys to play with (of which he ignores for a spatula and a colander!) and a closet full of clothes. He has an extensive library of books and was not in need of any new necessities yet, such as a big boy bed or potty. We do not want to spoil our son, but we do find it hard to resist certain toys sometimes (mostly because we want to play with them!) and we knew our families would be sending him lots of presents as he is the first and only grandchild on either side. So began the War of the Christmas Present.
Almost since my son was born, he loved to be in the kitchen. He loves to watch people cook and he LOVES kitchen utensils and bowls. At four months old he would sit in his bouncy chair on the dining room table and watch me prepare supper, happily gazing and drooling at whatever I was doing. When he was old enough to be mobile, he was always at my feet playing with kitchen paraphernalia and even extended this to ALL DAY play. The rule around here is wash everything from the kitchen BEFORE you use it, because chances are it was drooled in, stepped in, sat in, or covered in dog fur from the floor. Sorry to anyone who has eaten a meal prepared by me in the past 12 months. What? You survived.
The love of a kitchen has extended to play outside the home as well and anytime my son is near a play kitchen he is immediately drawn to it. He loves the buttons, he loves the sounds, he loves the baby sized kitchen tools. Therefore, I decided that we should get him a kitchen for Christmas. I may as well have said that I was going to buy him a new wardrobe...all pink, all frilly, ALL dresses!!
My husband was totally against the idea, and every male who caught wind of my idea was aghast that I would do such a horrific thing to my son. Imagine! Providing a child with a toy that sparked imagination, creativity, and learning! What kind of mother was I?!!
I must say, in his defense, my husband was against the idea, but did not really know why. He felt that it was a 'girl's' toy and that it just felt wrong to give a kitchen to a boy. I do not believe in gender specific toys, and if my son wanted to play with a doll, I could care less. I asked my husband if it was okay for girls to play with 'boy' toys and he said, 'yes', but also said if we had a little girl as well, he would have no trouble with our son playing with his sister's toys. Basically, his theory boiled down to if there were 'girl' toys in the house, it wouldn't bother him if our son played with them, but HE didn't want to bring those toys into the house for our son. Loophole!!
My husband didn't say that I couldn't buy a kitchen, and if it was already in the house, then our son could play with it. Devious, no? I found a kitchen in the community that we live in, which is remarkable since we have NOTHING here, but couldn't buy it right away because I did not want to directly go against my husband's wishes. I respect his opinions on how to raise our son even if they are totally wrong...all the time. What? No, I didn't say that honey, there must have been a glitch in the computer. I love you.
Anyhoo...
I decided to try and convince my husband of the advantages of our son having a kitchen, the major one being he will leave our kitchen alone. My husband HATES that our son spreads every single thing in our kitchen from one end of the house to the other. I could see him caving in and I happily went to buy the play kitchen. When I got to the store, IT WAS GONE! I was so sad, Christmas was ruined and there would never be other presents to buy... ever! Who's dramatic? Me? Oh, yeah, I guess a little.
My husband, who may I remind you was TOTALLY against the kitchen, saw how upset I was and ordered a kitchen off the internet for Santa to place under our tree Christmas Eve. Christmas was saved! Let the angels rejoice! Fa la la la la la la la la...and all that.
Christmas morning our son ran out to the tree and squealed with delight and immediately began to play with his kitchen. Since Christmas our son still plays with his kitchen, 'cutting' up play food and serving us meals, pouring 'juice' and drinking from his cup, frying eggs on the stove and microwaving pizza. I love to watch my little budding chef in action. Who knows, one day he may grow up to be a world famous chef, or at the very least he will be able to cook a mean meal to impress a date. What girl doesn't love a man that knows how to cook?
No comments:
Post a Comment