What $10 Will Buy
A million years ago, either for Christmas or for her birthday in February, Cassie got a present from one of my aunts. It's a zippered cloth wallet with a girl's face embroidered on one side, complete with yellow yarn hair. A pink ribbon is attached to the two top corners, so it can be worn as a necklace. It came with 6 neatly folded bills inside--a $5 and five $1's. Ever since she received it, I've been meaning to take Cassie shopping somewhere where she could pick out some things to spend it on.
I finally got to it yesterday. For the first time in ages, Cassie was sick this weekend--something viral, no doubt, since her temperature never got above 100.5, and she was cranky and labile but not glazed and lethargic. But still, by Sunday afternoon, we both badly needed a little walk and some fresh air. I didn't think she'd be up to the playground, so decided on a leisurely walk to the old-fashioned-y five-and-dime up the hill. We took our time, and I carried Cassie part of the way, because she was feeling pretty punk, but she was happy enough when we got there. We spent probably half an hour going through the store and looking at things. I kept reminding her that she could pick things out to buy with her money. We looked at various rubber balls, toy cars and trucks and fire engines, pretty little boxes you could keep treasures in, some molded plastic dinosaurs. We smelled the votive candles and remarked on some things that were just like what she has at home (kaleidoscope, inside-out ball). She didn't deign to even look at the sticker books I was pushing, nor the bags of big wooden beads I thought would be such a good idea.
What did she choose to spend her very own money on? A hula-hoop (pink, $3); a big roll of the kind of flat plastic cord that you use for crafts projects when you're 8 and at camp (also pink, $3); and two 4-inch molded plastic ants (black, one with red abdomen, the other with yellow abdomen, price unmarked-couldn't have been much).
So what can I say, except that she's her own girl. And she has two dollars and change left over.
I finally got to it yesterday. For the first time in ages, Cassie was sick this weekend--something viral, no doubt, since her temperature never got above 100.5, and she was cranky and labile but not glazed and lethargic. But still, by Sunday afternoon, we both badly needed a little walk and some fresh air. I didn't think she'd be up to the playground, so decided on a leisurely walk to the old-fashioned-y five-and-dime up the hill. We took our time, and I carried Cassie part of the way, because she was feeling pretty punk, but she was happy enough when we got there. We spent probably half an hour going through the store and looking at things. I kept reminding her that she could pick things out to buy with her money. We looked at various rubber balls, toy cars and trucks and fire engines, pretty little boxes you could keep treasures in, some molded plastic dinosaurs. We smelled the votive candles and remarked on some things that were just like what she has at home (kaleidoscope, inside-out ball). She didn't deign to even look at the sticker books I was pushing, nor the bags of big wooden beads I thought would be such a good idea.
What did she choose to spend her very own money on? A hula-hoop (pink, $3); a big roll of the kind of flat plastic cord that you use for crafts projects when you're 8 and at camp (also pink, $3); and two 4-inch molded plastic ants (black, one with red abdomen, the other with yellow abdomen, price unmarked-couldn't have been much).
So what can I say, except that she's her own girl. And she has two dollars and change left over.
posted by Rosie Bonner at 8:14 AM
1 Comments:
hula hoop:
three dollars
giant plastic ants:
two and change
a window into the brain of a toddler: priceless
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