Chore chart complete!

The kids finally finished their chore chart yesterday. Basically, I just cover a paper in a grid and they get to put one sticker in each box when they finish a chore. This is more complicated than it sounds because sometimes they forget to add a sticker, sometimes they decide to fill a box with stickers, or sometimes one sticker is so large it covers multiple boxes.

In the end, though, they get to pick out a special something of their choice as a reward for all their hard work. No, this isn't bribery. (At least not anymore than chocolate is for me.)

Today, we drove out to Keene so I could hit the yarn store to feed the never ending blanket project and so Sebastian and Dorian could go to the toy store of their choice. I told them they could each spend $15 of my money, but anything extra came from their wallets. Sebastian had big plans to get a princess dress up costume and Dorian had his usual plan: "I-on't know." Well, the only princess costume was a very fancy $48 number. Even if he used every penny to his name he would have been $2 short. And, no, I was not willing to spot him the $2.

We continued to look around, and Sebastian found a "Dragon Warrior" knight costume complete with sword and knife. I just couldn't allow it. I knew that I said that he could choose, and that I was being a total hypocrite as usual. He pleaded. He begged. He promised no one would be hurt. We compromised on a different knight ensemble, which only had a sword, but also boasted a sheath and the sword itself was not a thin, shiny weapon. He rounded out the costume with a pirate's eye patch and earring. $15 well spent.

Dorian, on the other hand, settled on a toy hamburger set, moved on to a refrigerator marble run, and twirled around a few times before deciding what he really needed was a train. A Thomas the Tank Engine train, specifically. The one little 3 inch train he chose cost $16. I had had enough of the toy store at that point, and he seemed terribly attached to it, but come on! $16? For one train?