Gratitude

This past Friday night we had our good friends Chris and Emily and their new baby Aiden over for dinner and to exchange Christmas presents.  We had a wonderful time!  I love being able to snuggle and play with a baby and then send him home with his momma!  Alex just adores Aiden!  He wanted to look at him, touch him, and play with him...he was all about 'Baby Aiden!'

However, Miss Aurora got her first hard lesson on showing gratitude for something even if you don't like it.  The kids were opening their presents from Chris and Emily, and Alex opened his to reveal a cool Buzz Lightyear cup and Buzz Lightyear gloves!  Aurora was super excited and tore into her present to find - clothes.  Her face immediately clouded.  She was definitely not happy.  I saw her face get all red and then she ran to her room to cry.  Awh!  My heart went out to her - she is still a bit too young I think to appreciate clothes...and especially after seeing the cool stuff her brother got, I know it had to have been hard!   (On a side note, I personally LOVED the outfit they got her!!  I wish I had one in my size!)

So I went into her room to talk to her, and told her that I know she did not get what she expected, but that Chris and Emily tried very hard to get her something special that they thought would look good on her...and that they didn't really have to get her anything at all.  We talked about how lucky she is to even get gifts, and that she needs to say thank you and show gratitude for a gift even if it is not what she wanted.  A tough lesson for a five year old! 

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Aurora reading a book to Baby Aiden

Alex and Emily

Alex and Aurora entertaining Aiden

Alex opening his gift

Aurora opening hers

Band-aids for Money Management

So Aurora LOVES band-aids. She is addicted to them and thinks she needs them for every little tiny scratch! This can get expensive! At one point she was getting up to five a day and putting them on. So I implemented a new rule; no band-aids unless you are bleeding! This did not make Aurora happy. She begged and begged for band-aids all of the time.

During this time we have also been learning about money. The difference between the coins, how much they are, etc. So I came up with a bright idea - if you are bleeding, a band-aid is free. If you aren't, each one costs 10 cents.

She was pretty gung-ho about this for a while, and happily gave me a dime (or two nickels, or a quarter and get change back) each time she wanted one. Until her change started running low...then we had the following conversation:

Me: I see you have two new band-aids on; you owe me 20 cents

Aurora: Ok let me get it

:Goes to bedroom and returns:

Aurora: I'm almost out of money, you are going to take all of my money!

Me: You are going to take all of my band-aids! They are not free to me; they cost me money too.

Aurora: Ohhhh....ok

And since then she has taken it easy on the band-aids. She's also figuring how to get a better deal. Today she said to me, "Mom, instead of using your band-aids I am going to save my money and buy my own box. I'll get a lot more and can do whatever I want with them."