Why I Oughta . . .

I got to spend the day with both of my boys yesterday, and Glory Hallelujah, it wasn't because either one was sick! Tyler went on a three-day field trip--did I mention that--from Monday through Wednesday and Thursday was designated a "rest day." How lucky is that?!

I attend a Bible study on Thursday mornings at which childcare is offered so Sawyer typically comes with me, but I decided that I had been given another golden opportunity to let Tyler hone his baby-sitting skills in a fairly controlled environment for a reasonable period of time. I mean, it would just be Tyler and Sawyer; what's the worst that could happen??















They burned the house down.

No, I'm kidding! Of course they didn't burn the house down--otherwise, how would I be typing this blog entry? Oh, yeah, WiFi everywhere you look. Well, suffice it to say the house was still standing when I got home. As a matter of fact, when I got home Sawyer was doing exactly what he was doing when I left, which was playing with his and Tyler's collection of die cast Star Wars ships--Sawyer's latest obsession with a capital "O." "O" as in oh my word, this kid has a one-track mind! "O" as in oh, how sad and depressed he's going to be when he doesn't get all the Star Wars Legos stuff he wants for his birthday!

So. I needed to run a couple of errands, one of which was a quick trip to Wal-mart to let Sawyer get this one last die cast figure, the AT-ST Walker, that would apparently make his life complete. Sawyer gets a piddling little allowance but he also spends, well, none of it, so I told him he could use his own money to purchase his life's dream. I had also consented to let Tyler use some of his own money to buy a (small) Lego kit he had been wanting.

You might be wondering why the kids need my permission to use their money to buy something. I have two reasons for this: #1 I am always trying to teach the kids to be content with what they have and to not always be on the lookout for the next thing that they absolutely must have or life will just not be worth living; and #2 Our system is somewhat illusory in that while the kids have an allowance on paper, it technically still has to come out of my bank account. And times are tough right now, you know? I just don't have the money to spend.

Fortunately, both Star Wars items were inexpensive and I even had a gift card to boot so it was all good. But while we were still perusing the aisles of SW paraphernalia, at some point Tyler became indecisive and began to waffle between two items. He handed Sawyer the first package he had chosen, and began deliberating over Door #2. Sawyer, in the meantime, was going row by row, shelf by shelf, marveling over ALL! THE! COOL! STUFF! and occasionally trying out this or that.

Finally, Tyler made up his mind that he would go with Option A, so he asked Sawyer to give it back to him. "Give what back?" Sure enough, Sawyer was grasping one package tightly in his little fingers, and it was his beloved AT-ST Walker. No blah-di-blah-di-blah (I can't even remember what it was called) in sight. Now the thing is, the toy aisles were fairly deserted at this time, so I knew no one had walked off with Tyler's chosen toy--let's call it a Republic Gunship for the sake of argument (even though it wasn't a Republic Gunship, and I should know because we own two of them and Sawyer corrects me every time I call them by the wrong name).

I should use this opportunity to mention that Sawyer has taken to carrying around ALL of his and Tyler's collective SW die cast ships in a little soft-sided Spiderman lunchbox, and at that very moment the entire collection was out in the van.

So as we began looking for the missing package I parroted over and over, "What did you do with Tyler's ship, Sawyer?" "Where is the ship, Sawyer?" Oy, if I had a nickel for every time . . . anyway, he is a smart kid but he just kept saying, "It's out in the van. Remember, in the lunchbox?" Repeatedly I said, "No, Sawyer, the package you were holding in your hand. No, this hand." It was infuriating how he held his ground and insisted that Tyler's ship was in the van.

And then, the light bulb came on. I was like, "Tyler, quick! What was the name of the toy?" And he was like, "Blah-di-blah-di-blah." Oops, I mean, "Republic Gunship." So I said, "Sawyer, where is the Republic Gunship?" And I know, I know, you would have had to be there but it was SO hilarious--Sawyer was like, "Oooooh, the Republic Gunship!" And he very calmly walked over and picked up the package from its resting spot where he had relinquished it to look at something else. I had been so ready to throttle him but it was just so funny--as he walked over to retrieve the toy he actually recounted his actions because once he knew which toy I was talking about, he knew exactly where he had been, what he had done and where he had laid it down. And I found it equally funny because he was just about as frustrated with me as I had been with him, but we ended up getting a big laugh out of the whole thing.

And then, naturally, Tyler put it back and went with Door #2. It figures.