What a Four-Year-Old Buys From the Dollar Store

For his birthday, Matthew's Great-Grandmother sent him a precious little card with a crisp 10-dollar bill tucked inside. In her letter, she instructed Paul and I to take Matthew to a Dollar Store so he could buy a ton of little gifts for himself with the money. Yesterday, I did just that.

On the way to the store, Matthew began an exciting discussion about Cinderella since he had just seen the movie at a friend's house.

Matthew: "Cinderella had to do all the work. All the work in the whole house. Poor Cinderelly!"
Me: "But she had some friends, right?"
Matthew: "Yes. She had a big mouse and a small mouse."
Me: "And then there was Lucifer, right?"
Matthew: "The black cat. The mean black cat. And Cinderella wear a princess dress and see the prince dancing."
Me: "What happened after Cinderella danced with the prince? What did she lose?"
Matthew: "She lost her pants."
Me: "Uhh...try again."
Matthew: *After a bit of thought* "Her slipper."
Me: "There you go."

Matthew was so very excited to have his own money to spend. He could hardly believe how much loot he could buy with his cash - 10 whole items! He felt like a rich little man!

He took about 100 laps around the entire store, carefully observing and making a few mental notes here and there in an attempt to make the most informed decision for his investment. I was getting a little irritated with how long he was taking to choose a single item because the aisles at the dollar store are quite narrow and we seemed to pick a very popular day for dollar store shopping because it was so crowded. However, after about 20 minutes of careful observation, Matthew stopped in front of the "puzzle section" and selected four puzzles to take home: a Buzz Lightyear, Lightening McQueen, Mr. Potato Head, and a Spider-man puzzle. What can I say? He loves his puzzles.

Then he picked out a pinwheel. Just because.

Next, he selected some refill bubbles for his bubble machine. A very wise decision considering he has already blown (pun intended) through all the bubble solution his little machine came with.

Next, he led me to the snack aisle because he was "very hungry" and wanted to "find something to eat with my teeth." He picked out a package of strawberry fig newtons "for my little sister" since Emma was getting a bit fussy. He's been very understanding of her crankiness lately, telling everyone we meet that Emma is "growing she teeth." He also chose a package of Monsters Inc. gummy snacks and some Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème Pies for himself even though we had just made some cookies at home. More for Baby Emma, I guess.

Our little cookie monster. She would be eating 24/7 if we let her!

Finally, we wandered over to the display of ceramic pieces and figurines. Matthew was thrilled to find a cute little piggy bank for the "money I find on the floor of the store." Seriously, he has an eye for loose change. Whenever I am out shopping with him, he normally finds no less than $1.00 in change as we walk around the store. I usually find his treasure in his pockets while washing his laundry. He's paid for my parking downtown multiple times.

I left the dollar store with a very happy little child. It was a lot of fun taking him there and I loved seeing his concentration as he chose each item. But now, gosh darn it, we have a million puzzles scattered around, a little crawler who likes to eat puzzle pieces, a cat who likes to bat puzzle pieces under the furniture, and a little boy who gets very upset if a single piece goes missing. It's going to be a fun week!

"This puzzle piece looks so delicious!"