OMG, what have I done?!

This is the question of the day.

Nick went to a birthday party last night at The Hop. It's one of those inflatable play areas, the kids love it there. Anyway, the party ran from 7-9pm on a Friday night. That's really late for my kids, considering I strive to have all three bathed, in PJs and out of my hair by 7:30pm. 8pm at the latest for Nick, and only if I have no other choice (ie. lots of homework to finish).

Anyway, I arrived at 9pm to pick him up just as they were eating cake and they hadn't even started opening gifts yet. In hindsight, I should have taken him home then and there. But I decided since it was a Friday night, I wouldn't humiliate the lad by pulling him out of a group of his peers to put him to bed. By the time the festivities were completed, it was 9:35pm. Yikes!

The hosts started to hand out the goody bags as the kids filed out of the party room. And Nick was the last in line. Any guesses as to what happened?! Yep, they "ran out" of gift bags, the boy themed ones anyway. And the hosts would not let him have a "girl" bag. Poor Nick. The tears started flowing almost instantly and I had that sick feeling in my stomach that this is not going to go well.

I managed to get him into the car before it degenerated into hysteria. Boy, that was the longest ride home ever. Luckily for all concerned, Paul was actually at home before 10pm on a Friday! I left Nick with him and headed out into the snow. In search of some sort of consolation for my little guy.

The only thing open was King Soopers (Kroger) and I dove into the toy aisle and prayed they had something small and less than $10 to replace the goodie bag that wasn't. The only thing that was remotely age appropriate and not ridiculously priced was a battery operated Whoopee cushion. *Sigh* Yes, I actually bought it for him. And he was thrilled when I took it in to him, Paul had him in bed by that time, and he was still crying.

While I am very thankful that I was able to alleviate my my son's mental distress with $2.99, I am seriously regretting this purchase. As I type right now, Ellie is in tears on the floor next to me. She has been repeating over and over again "Mommy, I just can't listen to anymore tooting around here"! I know the feeling. I had a long talk with her about boys in general, and their incomprehensible obsession with all things gaseous. Sadly, this will go on for years and some of them never grow out of it. This is one (of many) reasons why we have girlfriends. Today the house sounds like a truck stop restroom when bean burritos are the special of the day. As Nick just reminded me, "at least you don't have to smell it too Mom". Thank god for small favors.

Gosh, working tonight is sounding better and better! And then of course I will have to sleep tomorrow... Good luck Paul! A friendly word of advice for you: find some ear plugs.

Now, how long until the batteries run out?!