Skip to main content

Next year we’ll start charging rent



Davin is going through a serious car/truck/train phase. We watched Cars every day for three weeks straight for his quiet time activity. He loves any kind of truck but particularly likes the ones that do things such as tractors, fire trucks, dump trucks, mail trucks, etc. He particularly enjoys going to Target to peruse the latest trucks and dream about owning this one or that. The large ambulance particularly caught his eye and he talked about it all the time. One day in Target, I made a deal with him that if he would pick up his toys and do other jobs, he could earn his truck. I wasn’t sure if he would catch on to the idea but he surprised me by insisting immediately that we go home so that he could earn his ambulance. The truck was $15 and because a four year old’s attention is short, I didn’t want it to take too long for him to earn it, and so we decided to give him a dollar every time he did a chore. It took a couple of months to earn the entire amount needed (plus a little extra for taxes and tithing) and every time we visited Target he would insist on visiting his ambulance in anticipation of bringing it home. When the last dollar was earned, Davin took is full dollar jar to the store and paid for the ambulance all by himself. I am so proud of him!

Comments

Maile said…
I've been putting some thought into how to do allowances for our kids now that they're getting old enough to want things. I definitely like the idea of them working for some of it; I think it makes what they buy a lot more meaningful.
House Of P said…
Way to go Davin! All that hard work paid off!
Tiffani said…
That is so great!! You need a picture of the ambulance.
Sara said…
Great job Davin! Way to earn that ambulance.

Popular posts from this blog

Rowan Isaac Rees

The title of this blog also happens to be the name of our new baby. Rowan Isaac. Rowan is a Celtic name that means "little red one", and Isaac is a Hebrew name that means laughter. His initials (RIR) also spell the Portuguese verb "to laugh". So hopefully he will be a fun kid. We think he is already. He arrived today, November 28, 2007 at 2:15 pm (or thereabouts - I'll have to check the exact time). Both he and Katie are doing fine and resting a bit. He weighs 9 lbs, 2 oz., and as you can see from the picture, he has beautiful blond hair. He is a good little boy so far, and we're excited to have him in our family. Davin is with our good friends, the Smiths, this afternoon, but we think he understands a bit and is excited to meet his new little brother later this afternoon. We would like to thank you all for your love and your prayers, and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to and see many of you soon so you can meet our little guy. If you want to see m...

Labor Day = No Labor

The fun part of moving is that we don't have to go far to find new adventures. For Labor Day we decided to head to the coast to explore. We started our day in Santa Cruz where we stopped for lunch but we didn't stay long. Our next stop was the Swanton Berry Farm where we picked strawberries. In September. In sweatshirts. My southern friends were shocked!  The next stop was Harley Goat Farm in Pescadero. We loved watching the goats and browsing through the goat cheese store. Rowan was brave and even tried a little! After the goat farm, we wandered around the Pescadero village and explored the markets. The boys were excited to find a gumball machine but I was more interested in the dahlia market and the fresh artichoke garlic herb bread in Arcangeli's Market (we got our loaf hot from the oven and oh. my. heavens!).  We ba...

Something to say

We were there in the kitchen, Rowan and I, when out of nowhere came this sound: “ma ma ba ma.” I stopped for a moment and repeated the sound to Rowan. He looked back at me and did it again: “ma ma ma ba.” This funny laugh bubbled out of me, the kind of laugh when you witness a miracle, something that someone told you was possible but you weren’t quite sure it was, but there it was in front of you, that perfect little miracle. I made the sound to Rowan again and he repeated it again. Picking him up, I spun him around, kissing him repeatedly. It was like a scene from a movie. I’m sure there were violins crescendo-ing somewhere and the audience was getting teary. “Be patient!” they told me, “it could be six months before he makes any kind of sound.” I was all prepared to be patient and I still am. There is a lot left to do. Even after this afternoon’s happy moment, I told myself that it could have been an accident or coincidence, but when he made the noises for Chris later this evening, I...