Priceless

Today I spent the best dollar, literally $1, that I've ever spent. Let me back up. Andrew, my normally happy, giggly, easy-going boy was a whiny, sobbing mess all morning long. We had our cleaning lady at the house this morning so we left to get out of her way. We first stopped at my parent's house for a brief visit before running errands. During the first errand Andrew made it clear that his mood was not going to match my list of errands. I pushed it to one more stop . . . to Wally World, for about 5 items. In a strategic move we cruised past the toy aisle. What did we see? My boy's favorite thing. Balls. And lots of them. We picked out one and my whiny, sobbing mess of a boy instantly became Mr. Congeniality, laughing and flirting and shouting "ball" at every opportunity.

Once we got home I had a hard time getting him to eat his lunch because he was all about his new ball. Nap time arrived and Andrew insisted on taking the ball up the stairs himself. (A very long, tedious process, if you care to know.) And yes, the ball had to go in the crib with him and as I walked away he was still giggling and cooing about his precious ball. I looked in a few minutes later and this is what I saw . . .


(And yes, you are seeing this correctly. That's a binky in my boy's mouth. It came back when he had his ear infection last week and I haven't been able to get it away from him again. Please don't judge!)

Let me just tell you that the entire rest of the day was all about the new ball. When Brian got home from work Andy was so excited to show his daddy his new ball. He played, and played, and played, like with nothing ever before.

When it was time for bed he again pushed that ball up the stairs and into his room. And as I type this now he's snuggling with his beloved ball.

I have a hunch this is a memory to hang onto forever. There will come a day, I'm sure, when it'll be much harder to put a smile on his face and I'll remember this day fondly as one where all it took to put a smile on his face was a $1 ball from Wally World.