Noah's 9th Birthday

23 November 2011 I normally give my children money ($50) on their birthday and let them pick out what they want instead of me surprising them with gifts. This stems from the fact that when I grew up my parents always allowed us to go and buy our own presents, come home and wrap them, and then surprise our siblings with what we decided to get. Hahaha! Honestly, it was fun. We would be sneaky when we came back into the house after our shopping, because our brothers/sisters always wanted to know what we got. We would wrap our gifts and then everyone would gather around anxiously for the unveiling. :) We also got to pick out our cake and my mother would always make us homemade icecream (flavor of our choosing). So. That's kind of why I've never really surprised my kids with presents before. However, I did decide to surprise Noah this year. I don't know why, but I did. I figured I would try something new.

Well, I stayed within my $50 budget and carefully picked out two things that I thought Noah would enjoy: a scooter and a Kinex motorized roller coaster. After I bought the items I started worrying, so I asked Noah if he would rather have the money and he pick out his own things or allow me to surprise him. He relunctantly decided that he would trust me and accept what I got him. Unfortunately, as he was shopping with me at Target for stockings for Michelle/Frankie, he saw something that he wanted! Ughh! He had his eye on a scooter and started begging me to get it for him. I reminded him that he agreed that he was going to trust me to get his birthday presents and that he should just wait and see what I picked out. Well, oh my goodness! He started to have a breakdown! He was crying and was just distraught over the whole ordeal. As we approached the car to put our packages inside, I openend my trunk to show him that I had already gotten him a scooter. :) I couldn't surprise him after all. :( It was just too painful!

Anyway, I also decided to surprise him for Christmas too and get his presents in advance. Did I mention I do the same thing for this holiday? I give my kids money (a little bigger budget) and they pick out what they want. Hmmm...well, after Noah received birthday money in the mail from his grandparents, I took him out shopping again. Would you believe that EVERYTHING that he wanted to buy with his money, I had already purchased for him for Christmas???? Unbelievable! Thankfully, I diverted another breakdown and just convinced him to trust me and buy something different with his money. :) He didn't spend all of it. He only picked out one thing and decided to wait to spend the rest. Yay!

You know. I had no idea that I knew my son so well. Hmmmm...I guess I do! :)