Money Management

Today was a Chuck E. Cheese day. 

I used to have reservations about taking my children here for no good reason. This place is supposed to be a 5 times in your entire childhood type of event. Like it was for me. You are supposed to go to bed dreaming of the animatronics and then go win tickets like they're hundred dollar bills no matter who you leave dead and bloodied along the way. That's the Chuck E. Cheese experience. 

Not some run of the mill weekday time-kill.

But we regularly come down with cabin fever. And it's h.o.t. outside. And I have a supply of unlimited free tokens thanks to a internet source that shall remain unnamed. Just kidding, it's http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/ 

But now to the point of this story. Silas has a new obsession with carrying money in his pocket. Sometimes I give him a few pennies in the morning and he stays busy with them all day, taking them out, putting them back in, showing me his "moneys", reminding me he has "moneys," etc.

So I gave him 5 Chuck E. Cheese coins to put in his pocket before we left. And because of past experiences, I had a little talk with him about spending an absurd amount of coins on the same game, usually the first one he sees when he walks in. I encouraged him to take his time, remember he only had 5 coins in his pocket, think which game is his favorite, and choose wisely. He nodded and repeated the notion back to me in his words while he fingered the coins in his pocket. We also repeated this conversation in the car. I watched him nodding and smiling at me in the rear-view mirror. Dang Angie, you're good at this mom stuff.

When we arrived I was distracted by Mash saying Oooooohhhhh, danku! and clapping repeatedly from excitement, but I did notice Silas had found the duck game. The one where ducks slowly move on a conveyor belt and you try to punch them with a glove as they go by.  But he wasn't actually playing the game. He was resting his chin in his hands watching the ducks go by. And from across the room I watched as he proceeded to put in all 5 coins without batting an eye. To watch the ducks go by. 

Oh the world of a 3-year old. So interesting and strange. I love it.