Our little battles

We took the kids out today for one last hoorah before back to the grind. We had a great time at Chuck E. Cheese, then we were off to find Parker a lunch box.

The problem is, Parker is very much like me. He gets very set ideas in his head about what he is looking for, and that is what he wants. Whether it exists in actuality or not. In June, he decided his b2s theme this year was flames. I don't get it, but I am comfortable with it, and a little relieved to be moving away from superheroes and characters. Whatever.

So we bought a flame backpack and way-cool converse with rock-n-roll guitars. But we never could find a lunchbox to match. To a lot of people, that might not be a big deal. Kaden's school supplies were a mixture of Spiderman, camo, puppies, and Thomas. Parker wants to coordinate.

We are down to the wire, and at risk of eating (gasp) in the cafeteria, we are desperately seeking lunch containers. But all of the sudden he wants Transformer (yuck) shoes AND a lunchbox. Transformers happen to be big now, and even though I despise them, I just assume it is a guy thing that he will grow out of. Only there are no lunchboxes to be found, which seems like an end to my problem since we already have those ROCKIN' flames.

We go to K-Mart, and there is a lunchbox with a volcano on it shooting out flames and lava. Matches perfectly, and we are totally into lava. But his face has that pouty-disappointed expression, and I could tell we were settling. That frustrates me, because I know that as soon as we buy it we will find one with Optimus-whoever on it, and a real battle of wills will begin.

We leave without it, deciding to wait until we find the one that we really want. Until we pull out onto Rodney Parham into traffic, and then that lunchbox turned from kinda okay into the COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! IT WAS PERFECT! THAT LAVA WAS ?POWERFUL?! TURN AROUND I HAVE TO HAVE IT. And the fit ensues.

Now, I know that people in the central Arkansas area must not be watching their CSI or 48 Hours, because if they were, they would know to call 911 if they saw a car going down the interstate with a child desperately screaming and clawing at the back window. But noone pulled us over. At one point between there and Benton I almost wanted them to. almost.

We made it home, and shopping days are over, and I wonder how we will survive this week without the perfect new lunchbox. By next weekend, lunchbox issues will seem minimal compared to the stress of the first week.