Eraser Stockpile and Dr. Sophie

Today was the last day of the school book fair and I caved to the requests for money from the boys. They have money saved up from birthdays,the tooth fairy, and doing chores. Their money is mostly ones, so they truly believe they are rich and their supply of funds is endless. I have not done a very good job of educating my kids about money. I am not sure if it is good for kids to know too much about the financial status of their family, rich or poor. Arrogance and entitlement on one end and worry on the other don't seem to be very good traits for kids. So I realized today that by just saying nothing, my kids don't really understand money and how it all works. Jake pushed me and successfully negotiated $14 from his wallet for the fair. My parting words to him were, "Don't buy a bunch of little junk, just books, OK?"

This is what he came home with:

Erasers, in fact a plethora of erasers. When asked why he bought so many erasers, he explained that first of all he HAD to buy one for this one kid because he fell and skinned his knee and face REALLY bad. (Acceptable. I am digging the empathy.) Then he was under the impression that he was obligated to spend ALL of his money and he didn't realize that getting change was an option. On the bright side, there are some hundreds in there and I could always try to pass them off for currency if times get tough.

I have a choice with Sophie. I can A: let her sleep the afternoon away creating a blissfully quiet afternoon of relaxation for me, or B: let her stay awake and have hell to pay from 5 pm until she falls asleep at around 7. Lately I have chosen Option A, which means when I put the boys to bed at 8, she is just getting her evening started. She usually is pretty content to entertain herself with books and dolls and calling me in 25 times for various urgent requests. I was getting impatient with the repeated screams of "MMMMMMOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!" tonight, so in a desperate attempt at keeping her quiet, I gave her the "ear checker" and told her to check her baby's ears. I asked her how the baby's ears looked. She paused, then said, "Well he has a lot of wax in there."