Dinosaur Eggs

The latest craze for Joshua is the dinosaur eggs. I must explain these are toys that look very much like eggs that you soak in water and patiently wait for it to "hatch" or if you are a little low on patience, pry them open with provided tools to get to your "baby dinosaur". We all know these are toys but Joshua would like to believe it is real egg with toy dinosaurs inside. Whatever!

Any shops we go to he asks for dinosaur eggs. Tell me how many is enough; will three do? Not for Joshua. He wants it again and again and again. Couple of days back we went to the nearby store to quickly pick up something and Joshua started his pleading for yet another dinosaur egg.

I would have bought him one if not for the fact that the girls gave lengthy lectures why I shouldn't buy him one. One explanation was that the last time he had a dinosaur egg while he was working on it he got angry with Mommy for something and decided to throw away the dinosaur egg in the garbage. Though honestly I do not recall the incident when two kids are saying so and the third not denying it, I had to believe it did happen. After that Kid 3 stopped asking for it and we left it at that.

Today was Christmas Boutique where vendors set up tables selling gifts at school and children could take money and buy gifts for their siblings and parents for Christmas. All three children look forward to this event a lot and throughout the year their conversation would be around how much they will get for Christmas boutique the following Christmas.

I am normally generous and give them $20 each but seeing all the garbage they brought in a few years ago I had to limit it at $10 for couple of years. So this year lot of pleading went in ahead of time to give them $20 each as I used to as some of the things they really want to buy costs them more and with $10 they can not get gifts for all five of us (yes, they always count themselves too).

So with a long lecture on what not to buy, they were given $20 each to spend on with a message that whatever left over money they bring back will go into their savings account. End of the day Rachel brought $7 back but then she didn't get anything for herself and daddy; she gave me a book lamp and her siblings finger puppet theatre riddles.

Sharon spent all her money and got herself a lot of gifts - six to be exact - and all of us one each. I got a cookie box which I liked, some erasers for Joshua, a tiny notebook that said 'Dad' for daddy and a nice framed art for Rachel's desk.

Joshua only got $15 to begin with - with a promise that his $5 will be directly going into savings. He comes home with a pair or winter socks each for the girls, a bracelet for Sharon and a mini cute little nativity set for Rachel and few bath toys for his favorite cousin (Joses) and the rest all he spent on himself! Guess what he got? Of course Dinosaur eggs - what else!! How many? Four!!

He is all smiles and so are we... Oh! that's not true; Sharon is not very happy about her "boring bracelet & puppet theatre" as she calls it, she wants the nativity set that Rachel got AND one of the dinosaur eggs! Whoever said money is the answer for everything?! It does not work that way for us... at least not now...

P.S: Rachel is 11, Sharon 9 and Joshua is 7 as we speak...