Freddie's saving up for a Paw Patrol watch. It's a special kind with Marshall on the cover and digital nimations that make it seem, I think, like the user is interfacing with Ryder himself. For those of you without personal knowledge of "Paw Patrol," I know this seems like complete Greek, but trust me - it makes PERFECT sense to Freddie.
Anyway, he came across this must-have arm candy at Wal-Mart earlier this week. I told him, as I always do, "Perfect! You can ask for that for your birthday or Christmas." That pretty much always works, but this time, he said he wanted it sooner. He didn't want to wait until then. I told him he'd have to save his money - and that, maybe, his daddy would have some jobs he could do around the office to bring in some coin. This was a VERY exciting prospect for him.
Jeremy decided instead to have both boys - Jones decided to save for a Chase (again, Paw Patrol) action figure (again, first seen this week at Wal-Mart) - help him pull the MANY weeds in our yard (related: on Monday, Freddie walked outside and said, "Mama! It looks like we're growing a garden!" Leave it to Freddie to look on the bright side of things). They started last nite and worked for about an hour before bed; they did the same tonite.
All that to say, Freddie is COMMITTED to earning this watch (which, I swear, he will wear exactly twice before forgetting it even existed). The boys and I headed to Greenville today. Before we left, Freddie pulled a quarter out of his treasure box. I told him, "Buddy, I thought you were saving your money to buy that watch!" I think he thought he could buy it with that quarter, but for whatever reason, he took it with us as we went on our merry way.
I asked Jones to carry one of the bags I was taking along. I asked Freddie to carry my purse. Neither of these bags were heavy at all. Still, when I got to the van, Jones said, "Mama! Freddie dragged your purse on the ground." Instantly, I was angry. I LOVE this purse. This purse came from my parents, by way of a store in New York City, which is the ONLY PLACE ON THE PLANET THAT THIS PURSE IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. It's perfect - kelly green and big enough to hold an Epi-pen, my camera, the Mother's-Day-gift wristlet I use as a wallet, and whatever assortment of little boy trinkets I collect while living my life as the mom of two young sons. There's also, usually, a bag of peanuts and a phone charger. Oh, yeah, and some Imitrex.
You get the picture.
I looked at the bag and saw its beautiful green smeared with black, the smudge of a sidewalk in dire need of a pressure wash. The smudge could, possibly, come off with soap and water. The HOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PURSE, however, cannot be patched. Angrily, I snapped, "FREDDIE! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"
Freddie has the tenderest of tender hearts: "I'm sorry," he humbly said with a bowed head.
I walked away to put something in the basement. He followed me, and when I turned around to look at him, he stuck out his open hand. Resting in his palm was that quarter he'd taken from his treasure box. Softening, I said, "What's that for?" He said, "For YOU, so you can buy a new purse."
I took the quarter (there are consequences for foolish choices like that, and he needs to understand that ruining someone else's property will usually cost himself something, too); I also apologized for losing my temper with him and told him that the good news was that I was going to be in New York next week and could go buy myself a new green purse then. I probably won't (they ain't cheap!), but I can, if I choose to, and the point isn't the purse. The point is that my child has the softest, sweetest, most precious heart, and that is worth more to me than all of the kelly green handbags in New York City.
