Monday's Mommy Moment: Playing Store

At age two, my little boy is the one who calls the shots.  For the most part, he determines what he's interested in playing and how long we're playing it.  Oh, I'll try to pick out fun crafts for us to do, books for us to read, puzzles for us to complete, or construction projects (i.e. blocks) to build, but he lets me know right away whether it's on his agenda and if he has the patience to do it.  I could have a whole afternoon activity planned out, and within the first minute, he'll let me know whether it's actually going to happen.

With that said, I was pleasantly surprised when Friday morning, my little boy actually did like an activity I planned.  My mom bought him a cute pretend cash register, so we set it up on his little table to play store.  I decided to walk through the kitchen and pretend to select a variety of items on my "shopping list," and then I brought them to his little table for check out. 

At first he wasn't sure what to do, but when I handed him each item and then put out my plastic shopping bag so he could drop each item into the bag, he caught on.  It was fun.  He "scanned" most items and then took my paper money at the end to put in his register.  Once the transaction was complete, I shook his hand and said, "Thank you, Sir.  Have a nice day!"

For once, I captured my little guy's attention for a whole hour.  He didn't rush to play with his cars, run to look at what's in the refrigerator, grab his shoes to go outside, or take a temper tantrum looking for his binky.  Nope.  Instead, he got lost in the world of imagination, and he had fun assisting and "checking out" his customer over and over again.  Toward the end, he enjoyed shaking my hand so much, that he skipped scanning the items and working the register altogether.  (Hmmmm, I wonder if I have a mini politician on my hands...)

"Why thank you kind sir.  You're so helpful," I said to Little Lewie shaking his hand one last time.

"Thanks Mommy," he responded, extending his hand and giggling one last time.  (Wish I could have captured that one on film...)