It was my son's 4th birthday this past week. We ended up having 3 birthday parties for him...1 with my immediate family, 1 with friends and classmates, and 1 at his daycare...and I am assuming his mother probably had one with her family. By the end of them, I was jokingly thinking despite the difficulties of divorce on a child, it does have certain "fringe benefits" I guess.

For his "main" present, I got him a Power Wheels Ford F-150 Harley Davidson truck. 2 forward speeds with "monster traction" and reverse plus a truck bed. It also has a radio with reception that is quite good. Overall the quality is excellent with assembly that was a snap. It was listed at $349.99 at Toysrus.com but when I went to get it, it rang up at the sale price of $279.99! Nothing like catching an unexpected sale!

My son picked up the driving surprisingly quickly. Pull too close to the curb, put it in reverse. Want to run over a stick, swing around to make a wide enough turning circle to line the truck up. He even knew how to pull it into the drive way and swing into the garage parking it next to "daddy's car".

What's really cute was how he would do the things adult drivers do while driving. He would steer with one hand while adjusting the radio or reaching for a drink from the cup in the cupholder. He would even pretend he was talking on the cellphone! And of course, he had to have his sunglasses. lol I felt the gift was a little expensive but those moments are truly priceless.

Then I started thinking about the price and how much more it would have cost had it been made somewhere other than China. I, like many parents I'm sure, had to sort through many of his toys for the lead warnings. But overall, how much more can we afford, especially as single parents, because of the fact that these things are made over there? I read somewhere that the U.S. living standards wouldn't be what it is were it not for Chinese made products. And I tend to believe it. So from my son and I, we would like to thank the Chinese people who are laboring to create such great memories for us at prices we can afford.