A lesson in finances.

Raia has had a few visits from the Tooth Fairy this past month, and for a little while had quiet the little stack of cash stacked up (because mommy dropped the ball and forgot to buy cheap prizes before the wiggling toofers fell out, and so the Tooth Fairy was limited to whatever was in my wallet that night, and I don't keep a lot of spare change). After she had enough money saved up, she decided to buy a jump rope. She loves that jump rope. Uses it every day, even though one handle has already come off (waiting on George to fix that...) She's really gotten interested in money and having enough to buy things she wants, although currently her only method of earing it is to lose another tooth.

On Sunday her well-meaning Primary teacher gave each of her students a little bag of chocolate coins. Raia typically had no trouble with sharing her treats with Errol, but this time she seemed particularly protective. She gave him ONE coin, then asked me to put the rest in the freezer because the chocolate had gotten soft, and she wanted to keep them safe.

Errol, being the candy fiend that he is, wasn't content with just one, but Raia was unrelenting. She. would. not. share. Infact, she wasn't even eating the chocolate herself. When I asked her if she was going to eat it, she said no, she just wanted to "keep it safe" from Errol and ants. I told her we couldn't save it forever and that she'd have to eat it at some point, but again she said no, she was just going to keep the coins safe.

Finally it clicked in my head that there may be a bit of confusion going on here. I told her "You know, Raia, these aren't the kinds of coins you can take to the store and buy things with." Oh, the look of dejection that came into her eyes! The corners of her mouth pulled down and her eyes got big, and two big tears rolled down her cheeks. She let out a big sigh and said she guessed Errol could have another piece then. I reminded her that she still had $2 of her Tooth Fairy money left, and she could buy more candy with that, or save it until she lost another tooth and take that money to the store to buy something else that she wanted.

Her finger immediately went into her mouth, and her smile returned when she discovered two more slightly-wiggly teeth.

Oh, to be five.