Hard-earned Gloworm

I'm trying to balance those "my kids made me proud" moments with the "my kids are driving me crazy" moments on here, because I get as tired as the next mom of hearing how great someone else's kids are.  Don't get me wrong, there are rough days--lots of them.  I don't have any trouble calling those to mind these days.  But in ten years, the moments I'm going to want to remember are those precious, golden moments that come between the hairy moments of raising toddlers.  So you're stuck with another glossy, sappy moment captured here.

Yesterday, Henry decided Cora would need a doll.  He became obsessed with the idea, spending the whole day trying to decide what we should name it.  He asked to see pictures of dolls online, and I showed him a Gloworm.  I had a hidden agenda: I always wanted one as a little girl.  "Perfect!" I thought, "Here's my chance to have one in the house!"  I had no idea how fixated he'd become on the idea of getting Cora a Gloworm.  It was all he talked about the rest of the day.  He asked me to look up pictures to show Micah and Thomas, and talked about it as if Cora already owned it and spent her days playing with it.  I thought the fascination might pass overnight, but I was wrong.

This morning dawned bright and early with renewed thoughts of a Gloworm for Cora.  After a morning full of comments and stories about the amazing Gloworm, Micah and I had a pow wow.  We hadn't planned on buying any toys for her just now, but it was clear in Henry's 3-year-old, anything-can-happen little mind that she would have a Gloworm.  We decided to make it a teaching moment.  We told Henry that if he wanted to buy her the doll, he would have to do some chores around the house and earn the money for it.  He couldn't get started soon enough.

 

We drew up (and I mean, literally drew up.  I wanted to be sure he knew what was expected of him) a checklist of chores.

I'll admit, the sorting socks was a new one.  It took some serious effort, but I kept reminding myself that we were teaching skills and values here.  After a full 30 minutes, we had our 10 or 12 pairs of socks sorted and folded.

Finally, the checklist was complete and he had his little fistful of cash.  He was beaming.

We headed to the store, and--thankfully!--they had a couple of the dolls in stock.  He decided it was even more wonderful in person!

 

Our cashier was wonderful, letting me snap a picture as he paid in cash--a big deal, for sure!

Here it is: the long-awaited, hard-earned Gloworm.  He finally decided in the car on the way home that her name should be Freddie.  I only hope Cora is half as excited about this little doll as Henry has been!  Either way, it will have been worth every second.