Allowance - Book Fair

#1 –My teeth felt especially gross last night and I was really looking forward to brushing them. However when I looked in my bag, I’d packed two tubes of toothpaste but zero toothbrushes. How did that happen? I did at least have dental floss, but it was especially satisfying tonight to have a toothbrush again.

#2 – The forecast the past few days has been nearly ideal and I’ve so blessed to have lots of time outdoors during it. Today that included a leisurely walk along a creek with leaves just beginning to turn after dropping my friend’s child off at pre-school.

#3 – This is the third time I’ve watched my friend’s children while they were away. I love it and at the same time it is exhausting (and this time was only 28 hours). Besides dishes, I do little house work and the food is prepped for us beforehand. I seriously both respect and have zero desire to be a single parent. Yet it’s also fun to slip into someone else’s life briefly – to get a rare snapshot – and to have the children accept you without a blink.

#4 – “My friend is going to vote for Donald Trump.” The 7 year old told me at dinner with alarm in his voice about his neighbor/friend. He then explained his friend wasn’t old enough to actually vote.

“Do you know why he likes Trump?” I asked neutrally.

“I don’t think he wants a girl to be president,” he said, “isn’t that _____?” (I’m not sure the adjective he used here – something like – silly, crazy or dumb.)

#5 – Taking the 7 year old with the money he saved from his allowance to his school book fair. He bought one Captain Underpants book and one journal that could lock. I thought he might be mistaking the journal for a book with a story so I clarified with him a couple times that it was just blank pages inside (the cover looked exciting). He said he understood and that was what he wanted.

Sure enough, we came home and he started writing his “secret” things immediately. This is from a child whom I recall his pre-school teacher telling his mother to MAKE him write his name daily because he wasn’t good at it (and hated writing). She didn’t want to force him to write and I agreed it was ridiculous – and look at him now.