Problem-Solving Skills

Today we went to visit our favorite toy store.  They had been closed for most of the winter and spring for renovations.

I told Brian where we were going and he just lit up.  He hopped out of the van faster than I've ever seen when we arrived in the parking lot.  He skipped all the way in.  He let go of my hand and ran into the store.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Oh noooo.  Trains!  Broke!"

Yes, the beloved train table was gone.  Yes, the beloved electric model train in the window was gone.  Yes, I had one disappointed boy on my hands.

He seemed to get over it quickly but I watched him as he started to scan every single shelf looking for trains.  Finally his eyes found the Toy Story 3 Lego train set.  He has the Duplo model of it with the bigger blocks but he really has no interest of putting regular sized Lego pieces together.  Yet his heart was set on this train.

I had told the boys they could each pick a toy going in.  It's easy to explain to Corbin about a certain price range he needs to stay in.  Brian, on the other hand, could not for the life of him really get why I wasn't going to buy him a Lego set that was priced at $105.00.

So the crying started.

I turned him down over and over again sternly.

Corbin showed him some metal trains and he grabbed one but not happily.

We checked out and were starting to leave when Brian just threw his hands up in the air and yelled, "OHH NOOO!".  Here we go.  I thought we would leave without too much of a show.  Before I could grab him he was running back to the shelf with the Lego train set.  As I'm racing after him I watch him grab two other toys and put them in front of the box to hide the train set.

He steps back to look.  To see if other potential buyers will be able to find his treasure that he has hidden.  He seems satisfied as he sighs, turns around, and walks to the door with his new train in his hand.

He just baffles me everyday with problem-solving skills that I'm not always sure he has.

However, I am scared to bring him back in there again.  I hate to see what happens when he realizes he didn't hide it well enough and someone has bought it.