francesca's little men

Noah

1. Daniel isn't coming home tonight because he has school until 9 pm, so the boys don't get to see him before bedtime. So, our schedule is off a little and we found ourselves having a late lunch at 4 pm and at target looking at toys around 5 pm. Noah has been earning money slowly over the past 6 months or so doing "extra chores". Noah has his own chore chart, but in order to earn money, he has to do "extra chores" and after looking at all the toys at target tonight, he was motivated to do "extra chores" galore! Since we'v been home, he has cleaned up the front room, cleaned his room, made his bed, cleared off the kitchen table and currently, he is vacuuming the kitchen floor. He keeps hopping around and asking me for more chores to do so he can earn money and go back to Target to get one specific truck that he latched on to. I love it. He has goals.

2. I had to sit down with Noah and break the news to him that even if he earned all the money he needed tonight, we weren't going back to Target until tomorrow. He was very worried that the truck he wanted would get taken by somebody else. I remember feeling that way. Infact, I can recall feeling that way as early as a few months ago at a mom to mom sale. I stood in line shifting my weight from one foot to another, counting the women in line ahead of me and wondering if they'd find that perfect set of boys' clothing that I needed for MY boys. It's funny. I wonder if Noah or I will ever learn how to be patient and calm.

Liam

1. While at Target, Liam foundthis little "finger skateboard". It's a tiny skateboard about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long. It came with a set of extra wheels, a tiny screwdriver and stickers to decorate the board with. It was $2.50. Liam found the same kind of "finger skateboard" in the sand while we were camping this past weekend and held on to it for two days before loosing it somewhere. So when Liam saw this skateboard in the store .... he got very excited. His face lightened up, he pointed his fat pointer finger and yelled, "WOOK! Mommy, wook! bate-board! bate-board!" He grabbed it and carried it around for the entire 20 minutes we were at Target. When we started for the check out lines, I told him we had to get money from his piggy bank if he wanted it and we could come back. He looked confused and clutched the skateboard tighter. It was as if he sort of knew what I was getting at, but wasn't sure and wasn't taking any chances with letting his skateboard go. I told him again we didn't have his money with us and to leave the skateboard. His face switched from confusion and anger to total sadness. He looked like he was going to cry. I couldn't take it. I bought it for him and said we'd take the money from his piggy bank when we got home. I am a wimp. Liam is too cute. And he has not let that skateboard out of his sight all night. Worth it.