The Desk that Never Was

Oh, boy... did I make a big parenting goof today!

Danny has a train table that needs a few repairs. I called the company last week and asked for a part, and they were so nice to send us a whole side of the table for free. Danny's birthday is coming up, and he has been very excited. A few relatives have asked what he wants for his birthday, and Randy and I have been hoping that we could get him a small desk for downstairs. This last weekend we went to a friend's house, and their six-year-old son had a desk. When I was talking to Danny later, he said that he really liked the boy's desk. I smiled to myself, thinking that it was great that he was going to like what he would get for his birthday.

At about 11 o'clock this morning, the kids and I were playing downstairs when we heard the doorbell ring. We came upstairs and there was a large package at our front door. It was a really cool desk! I looked at the box with the picture of the desk and chairs and thought, wow... this is a really nice desk! Danny of course was jumping up and down with excitement. Heck, I was excited, too! The picture was in black and white, so we decided to go online and look at the desk and read about its features. Danny and I talked about what he could do on the desk, which bench he would sit on, what he would store in the green storage bin. He asked if I could assemble it, and I said that we should wait for Daddy. Out of curiosity, I called Randy and asked him if he knew who sent the desk. He said no, but it could have been a birthday surprise. There was no label on the box or anything.

When Randy got home, Danny convinced him to set up the desk. They hauled the box downstairs and opened it up. Guess what? It was the side of the train table. Randy tried to recover quickly and say how great it was going to be to have the train table working again and blah, blah, blah, but Danny would have none of it. He was visibly disappointed. I feel totally stupid... I was the one who called requesting the part! Then I talked it up with him so much, that his hopes were completely dashed when it wasn't the desk.

All evening Danny has been asking us when his desk will be here. Don't get me wrong, he is excited to have his train table fixed, but the whole desk thing was just a tease. Randy thought that maybe it is a plan that KidKraft has to get people to buy more merchandise. We are amused because one way or another Danny will be getting a desk for his birthday, but maybe we can make it a better surprise!