Frugal Boy got a doggy bank for Easter and he loves to put money into it. He even has a couple of dollar bills from a card given to him.
I am pretty sure that he doesn’t understand money, or the fact that it can be traded for more practical 2 year old things. If he did understand, he’d probably be trying to get that deposited money back out, but that is a lesson for another day. Right now, Shae and I are content to start building a habit of putting money in a ‘safe’ place.
Another life skill that we have been working on is grocery shopping.
He is good at not running into things or people, but we are still working on the concept of “Yours and Not Yours” or “The Stores vs Ours”. Those red grapes are awfully tempting, and he would frequently try to dash up and grab a couple while we were busy. He also thought that a gallon of not-butter should be placed in the cart, along with a carton of eggs.
Yesterday we went to the Peoria Zoo, Riverfront Museum, and Children’s Playhouse. All of the Peoria museums were having a membership swap day, so it was free admittance if you had a membership at any of them. We used our Prairie Wildlife memberships to gain access.
It was a cold day and the indoor places were packed with people. So instead of eating shoulder to shoulder with the crowds we employed a travel trick and went where the people weren’t.
Packing a picnic lunch is always a good life skill to learn.
Speaking of food, Frugal Boy has started to associate running with a good thing. About a month ago, when his aunt visited, Shae and I took our morning run with the jogging stroller as an opportunity to get donuts from our local bakery. Ever since then, Frugal Boy asks for donuts when we go on our morning run. We indulged him again yesterday. Hopefully exercise is now permanently associated with good things.