Money news

It's been a big money weekend here. First off, Hazel said yesterday, "I want money." Alrighty then, it's been brewing anyway! She said she wanted coins, not bills, so at the end of Family Meeting today she recieved two quarters (since she's two). She was grabbing at the quarters during the meeting and she got to hear that allowance is at the end, she will get her allowance then. Everybody applauded her first time receiving allowance, what a big girl! Afterwards, I asked her where she would like to keep her money, and she said in her hand. Later I found it on the floor, so I put it away to give back to her at next week's meeting. This evening she asked, "where's my money?" I asked her where her money was, and she said she didn't know. A perfect start!

There have been a couple of things recently that Toby said he wanted, and I told him I could take him shopping to buy those things for himself any time. We went this afternoon - he chose Target. He wanted bubble solution and Kids' Crest toothpaste (we have tons of toothpaste in the house so I'm not buying any anytime soon). We walked around the store and I showed him the big signs for each section, and the small signs for each aisle. I asked him what sections he thought those things might be in, and encouraged him to ask a store clerk for help finding them, which he did, reluctantly. When he found the bubbles, there were a lot of choices and different prices. Toby chose what he wanted and sat on the floor, counting out dollar bills into his shopping basket. We talked about tax and how to figure out how much money he would need. Then he got the toothpaste and counted out more money into the basket. Although he was looking at everything, the only other thing he decided to buy was a $1 bag of cotton candy. He picked a checkout lane and handed over his little wad of cash. Then he came home, left his money bag in the car, and spent 45 minutes playing with bubbles. This was a totally successful shopping adventure.

Another note on Family Meeting: Hazel gave separate Appreciations for each person, things we had each actually done with her this week! Toby was all prepared with the Appreciations Board. And Hazel chose three contributions for this week - taking out the compost, vacuuming after meals, and putting away books. No Problems. Quick, sweet, celebratory.

As for Toby's P&R of wearing clean clothes, the second day he wore the same pants (and underwear), so I chose on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday he carefully picked clean clothing, so now he's up to Day 3 out of 5 tomorrow.