To American Girl or not to American Girl...that is the question

Oh my...

I just picked up Mia and Chloe from their Grammie's house.  They had an incredible time.  It was Grammie Day and originally, Grammie (Kevin's mom) had wanted to have them separately to spend the night and have Grammie Day one-on-one with each girl, but they didn't want to be separated, so they did it together.  They had pizza and ice cream last night and had planned on going to the Nature Center and Ice Age 3D today.  Well, the Nature Center got rained out, so they decided to go to North Point Mall and walk around before the movie.  That is where American Girl comes in...

Chloe and Mia had seen the American Girl catalog at my mom's house a few months ago.  I think my niece, Madison, had it.  They thought it was so great...especially when Mia saw that the 2008 limited edition doll was called Mia.  That made her day.  So, we had said that if they really wanted that, then Grammie and Nana would go in together to buy them one for their 5th birthday.  (too bad the Mia doll is no longer available now that it is 2009)

I asked Grammie to take them by the store to see if it was really something they were dying to have because to spend $114 on a DOLL is insane in my book.  But, it's not my money, right???  (their gift from us was the playset...Kevin's blood, sweat and tears included)  

So, they go in and Grammie even told me that it is very overwhelming, to say the least.  I am amazed just hearing about it!  I knew the dolls had accessories and extra outfits and extra books and DVDs that go with them, but I was shocked when Chloe showed me the doll she has fallen in love with (Julie, the 70's hippie doll with long blond hair and a Lauren Conrad braid that has divorced parents and a love of chocolate fondue in San Francisco...see, there is so much to learn!) and the bed that she sleeps in is $118!!!  What?!?  I think the entire Barbie dreamhouse was probably $50 at most when I was a kid and I never received it and I was probably 8 or 9 when I asked for it (not 4, almost 5)!  Ok, enough about me...

After hearing ALL---and I mean all---including the DOLL, not child, hair salon ($20 ka-ching!), the ear piercing station for the DOLL ($20 ka-ching!) the cafe for the DOLL and child (who knows how much that costs?), etc---I decided that we would have a talk and I would tell them that we are going to wait on American Girl until they are around 7.  As I'm telling Chloe this, she just breaks down sobbing.  It is so pitiful, but it is so REAL in her little world.  She is telling me how I promised that she could have one when she turned 5 if Grammie and Nana wanted to buy it for her and how she loves this Julie doll and how she has already gone to the other room where it was quiet to ask Santa to please bring Julie's bed and PJ's for Christmas so Julie can sleep next to her in her own bed.  

Needless to say, I caved.  

When I called Mia into the kitchen, Chloe had calmed down, but was still upset that I even tried to go back on my promise.  What I love about Mia (in this case) is that she is easily distracted.  I asked her if she would be happy going on a field trip to Toys R Us with Grammie and/or Nana to pick out her birthday gift instead of having the American Girl and she said, "Yes!"  Perfect...

Then at bedtime, they didn't want a story, they wanted us to read the American Girl catalog about each doll.  I am nursing Quinnlan in the nursery and I hear Kevin reading about Julie (the doll that Chloe wants) and I wince when I hear him read the part about Julie coming from a divorced family and how that and her move to a new school is "what changed her" and his next words are, "No way...no way...this is total P.C. garbage.  They are too young for this."  

Uh-Oh.  

I guess we'll see where this one goes, but like I told him, Chloe wants the doll for the doll, not the book that goes along with it...the books are definitely for older kids...and there are plenty of little kids out there that come from divorced families (Kevin being one of them...not that he is a little kid or that he would have ever read an American Girl book) that would probably like to read and relate to a story similar to their own (minus the 8 track and the chocolate fondue).