How difficult can it get !
When I presented to him, the idea of asking Santa for scooter, he plainly rejected, saying 'Santa will not be able to deliver such a heavy gift' !
It took a lot of reasoning to convince him that Santa will indeed be able to deliver. Phew ! Next step was to make him believe that Santa will leave the gift only if he finds children sleeping in their own bed. He said that he'll think about it. I considered half the battle won as he did not out-rightly reject the idea ;-)
As Christmas day neared, he stated plainly, 'I think Santa will know where I am sleeping' ! We felt cheated. Kapil and I tried to coax and cajole, threaten and even used some emotional attyachar. But he had made his decision. We could not make out whether he was sure that Santa will deliver his gift or he wasn't too keen on the gift or if he did not really believe that Santa existed !
In any case, we saw no doubt in his eyes and I wish I could be as decisive as him !
So we all again snuggled together at night, somehow, on the queen size bed...Pranav peacefully, with his Christmas stocking by his side, and we restlessly !
In the morning, in a bid to save our faces, Kapil suggested to keep the gift in the other room, on his bed.
As soon as Pranav woke up, he went to check the stocking. We felt more excited than him to see his reaction ! He opened the gift wrap and found a real watch with Ben 10 figure on it. What followed is difficult to explain....his face lit up and he did a jig with his fist and cried, 'I got it ! I got my watch !' He did not even try looking for scooter and we had to remind him to search for it. He was happy to get the scooter but the watch had made the day for him.
When we mentioned to him that, 'look Santa left the big gift on your bed' , without blinking for a moment, he replied - Santa has made a mess...throwing one gift here and another there ! Ha ! how does these things come to kids ! In our own interest, we stopped the discussion here.
Finally, he got what he wanted without compromising on anything ! We are happy that he has a strong mind of his own and are, secretly, already thinking of embarrassment saving ways in such situations !
May he