The grandparents come through

If you read this post you'll recall that C spent a month with my mom and step-dad in what I like to call the summer of spoiling. They had an early b-day bash for him and gave him all sorts of cool stuff. His favorite being the Indiana Jones gear (hat, whip, bag, brushes-for cleaning off rare treasures-a notebook that mommy lovingly pasted clip art of ancient stuff into and a pencil). He spent hours outside digging up treasures that my mom burried in a flower bed that she had not planted this year. It was crazy exciting. For some reason this pic is small and I can't enlarge it without it getting all pixel-y. You get the idea though:

Two weeks ago we were in Target and C wanted to look at the toys. He always wants to look at the toys. We have a deal: if he's good while I shop, we'll look at the toys. If he doesn't listen, no toy looking. It's an effective system. So, back to two weeks ago: he saw a pirate ship (ImagineNext, IIRC) and wanted it. Desperately. Des-per-ate-ly. He begged. He pleaded. He tried to bargain. It was sad really how much he wanted this pirate ship. He asked if he could have it for his birthday, but I told him all of his b-day presents had been bought. He came up with the idea that *he* could buy it. With my money. I laughed and told him that he could not spend my money, but if he saved his own money he could buy it. See what a good parent I am? Teaching about saving for something you really want. I amaze myself sometimes, I swear I do. He sighed heavily, but agreed that he could do that. He hates to spend his money, so this was a big break through. He has no problems spending my money, but not his.

His b-day came and the money poured in. He got a whopping $48! He already had $27 saved up in his own little wallet (tooth fairy and Christmas money he refused to spend). He was so ready to go get that pirate ship. He talked and talked and talked (and talked) about it. We went to Target on Sun, but forgot to bring his money and I wouldn't spot him any because I wanted him to hand over his own money. He was disappointed, but I promised the next time we went, we could bring his money and get it.

Monday afternoon a package arrived from Amazon.com. O'Pa (my dad) had sent him a birthday present. If it's from amazon, we know it's from O'Pa. We were on our way out to dinner so we told him we could open it up when we got home. This led to much excited speculation about what could be in the big box. It made for fun dinner conversation. We finally got back home and I cut the tape on the box. The excitement was palpable. I could feel it vibrating off C. We opened the flaps, pulled back the packing paper, and there, in the amazon box sat the exact same pirate ship! C was over the moon. How had O'Pa known he wanted it, he wanted to know. M and I stared at each other in amazement. M asked if I had mentioned it. I had not! How freaky is that? I called my dad and told him the story and he was as shocked as we were. C has now decided that O'Pa must be "psycical." He really loves this thing. I hear him in his room all the time singing "Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho, a pirate's life for me." Good times.

And look! We even had sea monsters! :)