The Story of Sam the Elephant

Meet Sam the Elephant. Sam came to live with us about two weeks ago. One evening we ventured out to Ikea in search of a cute organization system to deal with our ever-growing pile of toys in the living room (which we never found). Upon entering Ikea there was a large bin of stuffed elephants, which must have been strategically placed at the beginning of the long journey though the store. Haylie absolutely wanted to hold one of the elephants in the cart with her - of course who could pass by this huge ball of soft, cuddliness and not want to ride around the store with it? As we made our way through the store, Haylie's relationship with her elephant friend grew deeper and deeper and I feared for when they would have to part ways. When we got to the checkout stand I swiftly informed Micah he would have to be the one to deliver the bad news that Haylie's new best friend was not going home with her.

He broke the bad news to her that the elephant needed to stay in the store and as he started to take it away, Haylie instantly burst into tears. Not the kind of have a fit, tantrum tears that she normally gets in trouble for, but the kind of sad, weepy, crocodile tears that insinuate, "Daddy how could you do this to me? How could you break my heart like that?" Micah tried to be strong and reason with her but I could tell he was folding so I had to throw in a little tease - "are you really going to take her elephant away? look how sad she is," I said. We had both agreed we weren't going to buy it, but with one poke Micah toppled like a house of cards and bought Haylie her new elephant. I was of course just joking with him and did not think it was bad that he was taking away the elephant but it was cute to see tough Daddy melt in the middle of the store and give in. She promptly named him Sam after a boy in her class that she talks about a lot. :)

So there you have it - the story of Sam the elephant - I'm pretty sure that is just the beginning of how kids end up "spoiled" but it was so cute to see her happy and she really loves her elephant. C'mon who hasn't given in every now and then?!?!