Birthday-induced madness

What is it about kids' birthdays that cause normally sane adults to lose their ever-lovin' minds? Tristan's birthday was this weekend. On Friday he received the package from his Daddy - a friggin' Playstation Portable. Yes, it's a $250 hand-held video game. For my 9 year old. Boy. Generally not known to be the most careful with delicate electronics. (Insert predictable and irrational rant here about divorced fathers buying love rather than spending time, not having the first clue what appropriate means, spending money on crap when he's growing out of jeans every few months, etc.....all I'm sayin'.)

But then. Grandma and grandpa came to town bearing doughnuts and gifts. Tristan requested Krispy Kremes rather than a cake, it's true, but THREE DOZEN? Oh, and they brought this:

...which now lives in my living room. Not that I'm a fancy-pants decorator or anything, but I thought I'd grown out of the kid-stuff-all-over-the-living-room phase of parenthood. It goes nicely with my red velvet chairs and antique post office box. And he loves it, of course. And it was chosen with love and with absolute dedication to Tristan's tastes and preferences, not mine - bless them.

I'm actually convinced that grandparents are the target market for stuff like this, exclusively based on that taste and preferences thing. This chair fits a 9 year old boy perfectly; he would choose it in a minute. They know a mama won't buy it, for precisely the reasons I've stated, so they target the grandparents. Don't tell anyone, but it's actually really comfortable and fun, too. Who knew?