My girlfriend's daughter turned 6 earlier this week. Her birthday party is tomorrow night, so last night I went out to buy a birthday present for her. I've been out several times with my girlfriend to shop for both her kids, so I had an idea of stuff her daughter would like.
When I first met her daughter early on in our relationship, I had made dinner for everyone to warm them up to me. After we had finished dinner, her daughter wanted to show her My Little Pony toys to me while my girlfriend washed the dishes in the kitchen. She was in clear earshot and could also see us at the dinner table playing together. I figured I'd have a little fun with her daughter by bragging about my extensive My Little Pony collection of my own that I supposedly had since childhood. When she asked me just how many ponies I had, my answer was, "Dozens!"
You should have seen how big her eyes got when I said that.
Meanwhile, my girlfriend fought to keep from falling over laughing in the kitchen while overhearing my conversation with her daughter. I had a bunch of questions thrown my way, like what colors of ponies I had, what their names were, and where I kept them. I BS'd my way through every answer, and she believed every word.
Later that evening after the kids had gone to bed, my girlfriend warned me I had just dug my own grave. She said her daughter remembers EVERYTHING, so she was bound to ask me more questions in the future about my fake collection, and even want to see them eventually. I guess there's something hereditary in the women in my girlfriend's family, because she, her mom, and her daughter's memories are all super sharp.
So that brings me back to last night in shopping for a birthday present. I looked around all the toys for girls and saw all sorts of dolls and playsets in the toy section, and eventually picked out a My Little Pony for her. I wasn't sure if she already had it, so I got a gift receipt along with the toy to cover myself.
What blew my mind was the kinds of toys kids love these days. One of the other toy lines my girlfriend's daughter loves is something called Monster High, which frankly creeps me out (Picture high school-age dolls, only they're zombies and other kinds of monsters). I talked to both my girlfriend and one of her best friends who also has a daughter, and none of us understand their appeal. I even described them to one of my female friends who doesn't have any kids at all, and she also thought the idea of them was weird. Who sat down and came up with such an idea in the first place?
Anyway, after I paid for the gift and headed back to my car, I started thinking back to my childhood days and the toys I always bugged my parents about that I wanted. I could only imagine the look on my mom's face when she went shopping for either my birthday or Christmas with my wish list in hand of the Transformers or G.I. Joe toys I had asked for. I'm sure she saw the names and thought, "Decepti-whats? And what on earth is a Metroplex? Who's Destro and why does he have a name like that?"
I have to admit, I have a new-found respect for my mom when she had to shop for toys for me now that I'm doing the same for my girlfriend's kids. With Christmas coming up quickly - what the hell happened to 2012 anyway??? - I expect I'll be roaming the toy sections of Wal Mart, Target, and certainly Toys R Us very frequently over the next few weeks. I'm sure my mom will enjoy my new perspective in toy shopping now, and I'd even suggest she's entitled to a "Now you know what I went through" line or two.
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