"Is he spoiled?"

is there an easy way to answer that? is there even a good answer for that question? "Is he spoiled?" hmmm, maybe, a little, not as much as i would like... isn't that what babies are for? why, wouldn't you spoil him? look at that face!
JA and I were at wal-mart today, and they have balloons for valentine's day EVERYWHERE in the store. and not just your ordinary valentine balloons, but super-cute balloons, like huge, green frog balloons. so... we got one. a $5 frog balloon. we walked through the store with this large frog floating above us, the string getting stuck in my ponytail more than once. mommy and JA, who was wearing his frog hat, went all over the walmart with this super-cute balloon. we ran into more than one person who commented on the cuteness of JA, his frog hat, and his frog balloon. we walked past a small child who immediately began throwing a fit because he wanted a frog balloon, too. (I'm pretty sure his dad shot me the meanest, thanks-so-much look ever as we strolled by.)nevertheless, we left walmart with one very happy baby, one very large floating frog, and one content mommy, until... I was unloading the cart and realized someone was talking to JA. I turned to say something and recognized a girl I had been friends with back in elementary school. she, her mother, and I exchanged pleasantries, and then she asked the question, "is he spoiled?" it was obvious from the huge smile on her face that it was really more of a rhetorical quesiton. well, that and the fact that I had just stuffed a huge, floating frog into the car. I grinned and said, "maybe a little," before i even realized I was talking out loud. We talked a little longer before returning to our respective vehicles and leaving. On the way home, I couldn't stop thinking; am I spoiling him? Am I setting a precedence that I will regret? True, it's just a $5 frog shaped piece of mylar filled with helium... now. but what if this leads to the 'I-wants' or the 'gimmies' or even worse: the middle-of-the-store, throw-yourself-on-the-floor fits? *shudder* What have I done? I ruined our child!!!
okay, seriously, I know I haven't ruined him, but it did help me realize that what I do now could easily become a habit which could then lead to trouble on down the road. so, I bought my one year old a valentine's day balloon. I don't do things like that every time we go into a store (we couldn't afford that!). I really don't think that randomly buying one balloon is going to make him think that he has to have something everytime we go into a store... hopefully :) shew, parenting is not easy, but at least it's fun!