The Backpack (continued ...)

I hunted all morning looking for his requested black Spiderman backpack. Finally at Target I found it! This is really not the time of year to be looking for backpacks, they're mostly sold out or on clearance. Since Target is almost a half an hour from our house, I called to have one of my sisters pop in and make sure they carried this very special backpack. Sure enough, they had one left! She reservd it for us at the customer service desk. I felt bad for asking her to go out of her way, but I dreaded the idea of loading both kids up after school, driving across town only to discover they no longer carried it.

Before getting to Target, we had to stop for gas and to drop off some recycling. Logan about crawled out of his skin with excitement! He could hardly stand the waiting. We went straight for the customer service desk and there it was. Black Spiderman Backpack.

"I don't like that one."

Seriously?! Who is raising this kid? He sure needs to learn some manners!!!

Once again the hunt was on. We spent 20 minutes just trying to figure out WHERE they sold backpacks in Target. We finally found them, and fortunatley they had a large inventory still. Even better, they were all on clearance! I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of the over commercializd characters you see all over childrens' products. I try to avoid buying things with Spiderman, Batman, Transformers on them, but sometimes it's just not worth the fight. I had already decided I would give in this time and find him a nice backpack without a superhero for next year.

OR, maybe I could try, bribery. "If you get this backpack I'll get you a lunch box to go with it." And without a second thought, he took the bait. Fortunately the lunch boxes were also on clearance (I made sure of that before I made the offer). We ended up with a very nice backpack for $9.99 and an insulated lunch bag WITH water bottle for only $3!!! Together they were cheaper than the black spiderman backpack anyways, so everyone left happy!

On the way home Logan told me he never wanted a new backpack. He wanted to use this one forever. I have a feeling he'll be changing his tune come August.

*Update: Logan is home sick today. He came down with a fever last night after dinner. He was shaking like crazy in his sleep, it scared me a bit. He's fine today. Of course they have to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school, so he's hanging out with Dad today. He's doing so well, he's already found time to break ... yes, break his new backpack!!! It's still usable, it's only the decorative string on the front.

The Backpack

Sunday night we had a meeting with our local Down syndrome group. It was a great meeting, they provided babysitters while we listened to some information on financial planning for a child with special needs. We left feeling pretty, um, distraught ... Seems doing nothing isn't working well for us, so we're going to be doing something very soon. I'll definitely be posting more about this as I learn more, because EVERY parent of a special child needs to know this stuff.

After the meeting, one of the families had donated some gifts for our kids to take home. The gifts were for the kids with Down syndrome, and also their siblings. Logan was thrilled, and he actually sat down in front of the gift table and removed his shoes and socks so he could wear the new spiderman socks he picked off of the table! The kid has little self control.

He also found a backpack he fell in love with. There were two actually, one was Spiderman, and the other featured Lightening McQueen from the movie Cars. It was a difficult decision, but ultimately the Cars backpack trumped Spidey b/c it came with a matching lunch box. All of the boys backpacks were a small size, but Logan wanted one so badly he didn't care. I was secretly excited b/c I knew that a new backpack was inevitable in the coming weeks. HIs old one was literally hanging on by a thread and it had become so dirty, no extra heavy duty wash could get it clean.

He moved his folder and papers from his old bag to the new backpack as soon as we got home, and he admired the bag and it's matching lunch box all day on Monday, awaiting school on Tuesday. He did ask me a few times if the bag was for preschoolers, or if it was too small, but after seeing it on his back, I thought it looked okay. I reassured him it would be perfect for Kindergarten and we would get him a bigger one for First grade.

Tuesday morning he woke immediately when his alarm sounded, which doesn't happen often. He got dressed and straightened up his hair without prompting (yelling). He ate lunch quickly and was excited to catch the bus and show his friends his new bag. While I was fixing Chelsea's hair he even began fixing his own lunch! I was so impressed I helped him finish so he could take a cold lunch in his new lunch box.




Logan caught the bus as usual, and I drove Chelsea to school. After leaving her in her classroom, I popped in to say goodbye to Logan. He was sitting quietly in his seat and as I got closer, I noticed his eyes were red. I asked him what was wrong, and he immediately burst out in tears. "The kids were making fun of my bag and said it was small."

Ouch. (This is where I had to hold back my mommy emotions. No, I couldn't reach across the table and ask the kid next to him why she would knock down his new bag that he was obviously so proud of. No, I couldn't lay my head down and cry right along with him either, a much as I wanted to.)

Thank goodness Kindergarten teacher saves the day! She saw the disturbance and intervened. As soon as the perpetrator was confronted she also burst into great big alligator tears. It was quite a scene for 9am in the Kindergarten room.

Mommy rule #284, do not try to solve your childs' bullying issues by offering to buy him something.

Yes, I caved. It was my internal instinct. "Logan, It's okay, do you want to go get a new backpack after school?" I know, I know, that's absolutely the last thing I should have done, and I realized that as soon as I had said it to him. It did however seem to dry up the tears rather quickly. My poor kid, he'll never be able to deal with social problems on his own. I really need to learn to butt out!

The damage was done, I had promised him a new backpack. Before I left school he told me he specifically wanted a black Spiderman backpack. I went home, and spent the morning searching for backpacks with the black Spiderman.

To be continued ...


(Chelsea doesn't like when I try to take pictures of her brother and not her!)