A Prize Has Been Chosen

Sarah is not one to let money accumulate or gain interest.  It resides with her for only a short while before being spent.  In this way, she is a completely normal kid.

So... what do you let a kid who won a big chunk of money buy?  I was NOT going to let her convert it into iTunes dollars and end up with 100 MORE apps for her already crowded iPad.

Luckily, the Christmas catalogs are out.  Here also, Sarah is no different from any other kid - she goes through them so many times that the pages get worn, bent, and tattered.  For a while, she's been asking for this:

leapfrog.com

It's the Tag Interactive Reader from Leap Frog.  We've had wonderful experiences with other products from Leap Frog - both the Leap Pad and the Leapsters were well-loved toys, in the days when I required that all video games be educational.  But this pen is designed to help kids learn to read, and Sarah already knows how to read.  It didn't seem much better than the Leap Pad, which did similar things (but not as easily).  So, I had absolutely no plans to buy it for her.

Then she wins that big money prize.  I think it's only natural that she should get something special.  As she's pondering how many apps she can get, I do some quick thinking and suggest that she could buy the Tag reader and a few books.  Now, THIS is an idea that she can get behind!  Dad took her out the next day to help her pick it out.  She was miffed that we wouldn't let her spend the whole amount, but tithing and savings are important, and so she was only able to get 3 books.

I wasn't concerned about her having just a few books - I really thought that it would be a short-term toy (that I could resell on Craigslist/Ebay).  It appears that I was wrong -  she is really into this pen!  I have to admit, it's a lot cooler than I thought.  And, if it gets her into reading books and away from the games on the iPad, that's a big bonus.

Grandparents, take note - Tag books will be welcomed under the Christmas tree.  I'm sure she's got them on her Amazon list.  :)

Well, That Might Have Been a Bad Idea...

I have to come realize that it's in the parenting job description to enable and encourage your child's independence.  (I really wish I could find those instruction manuals that must have come with each of my kids.  I'm sure the topic is covered.)

This is challenging with a disabled child, so you take any opportunity you can get.  Sarah is very big on "wish lists" - they create a visual record of the things that she wants.  They're nothing fancy, just words on a piece of paper, but the fact that she can see it gives it permanence and significance.

As a busy parent, you also want to lighten your own load as much as possible.  So, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to install the Amazon app on Sarah's iPad, and teach her how to use the "add to wish list" feature.  I blissfully imagined all the skills she would develop, typing in her search term and reviewing the results, adding the item to her list.  Holidays would be so easy, because I could just send a link to the list to anyone who asked.  The best part - I wasn't involved!

What I did not expect was this:

I had forgotten about the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section.

Apparently, my girl has crazy mad skills when it comes to using the Amazon app.  She understands links and can navigate with ease.  The only thing she has trouble with is understanding that it's a WISH list, and not a list of THINGS I'M GETTING.

Sigh.

So when my parents asked what they should get Sarah for Christmas, I forwarded the link to them.  Even though the list was only at 1400 items, it was still a no-go.  Apparently grandparents, even retired ones, don't have 20+ hours to review mega lists.  That, apparently, is a job for me.

The worst part?  With her super-memory, she remembers every. single. item on that list.  No outside editing will be tolerated.

In hindsight, maybe I should have just taught her how to get out a piece of paper and find a pencil.

The Ducks ARE the Most Valuable Thing!

I posted yesterday about Sarah's joy at earning 11 rubber ducks during her school's magazine sale.  I have to admit that I was slightly condescending about the whole thing; the ducks are worth about $10 at most, and cost just pennies to produce in some Chinese factory.  I saw them as just another chunk of childhood clutter.  I thought the other prizes that she won were more valuable.

Oops.

In addition to the indescribable value they have to her - she wears them everywhere, including to bed - it turns out that they are worth a lot of cold, hard cash in the world of the magazine sale.

I got an excited call on my answering machine this morning from her teacher, saying that they had good news to share, and they would call back.  Well, they never did, but a very happy Sarah came home from school today and shoved an envelope at me, exclaiming "I won MONEY!"

Correction - she won LOTS of money.

From what I am able to figure out (Sarah's hazy on the details), she was called down to the main office, where she had won the "5-bucks-a-duck" promotion.  Perhaps it was because she was wearing them (the flyer proclaims "wear your ducks to school and have a chance to win cash and prizes!"), but those eleven ducks earned her $55.  It gets better - since she had turned in her postcard booklet on time, they doubled it.  Those ducks netted her $110!

That's a lot of cash for a middle schooler, but it won't even put a dent into her 1900+ item Amazon wish list.  :)

So, I stand corrected - the ducks ARE the most valuable thing.

Amen.

This is so me that I just had to post it.

I wish I could credit the source; I stole it from Facebook

Don't get me started on my annual rant about how I can't stand Thanksgiving being overlooked as we jump from Halloween to Christmas...

Thank you!

A BIG thank you to all who purchased magazine subscriptions from Sarah.  You helped her reach 17 subscriptions before the first turn-in day, so she is now the proud owner of a lanyard holding a full set of 11 rubber duck keychains.  She tells me that no one else in her homeroom sold as many as she did.  :)

Here's a list of the prizes she won:

• A duck lanyard & lucky duck
• Entry for the iPad 2 drawing
• X-band (watch)
• SkinIT for phone/iPod Touch certificate
• Pizza lunch w. a friend in a Hummer Limo
• Kicker headphones
• A "flock-o-ducks" - one of every duck

She told me that she didn't do the iPad drawing entry...??!!! We had agreed beforehand that if she won the iPad, she would give it to her sister, who is insanely jealous that Sarah has one (purchased with state funds via her disability waiver) and she doesn't.  Sarah's explanation for not entering?  "My sister doesn't want an iPad."  Uh, what planet have you been living on, girl? 

I quickly emailed her teacher, who hopefully can sort this out.  Normally I wouldn't fuss, because what are the odds, right?  (The fact that I did all the legwork to sell subscriptions and that winning an iPad might actually give me a reprieve from the endless whining MIGHT have a thing or two to do with how personally I'm taking this...) Since the drawing is only for students participating from her school, and you have to work to earn an entry, there is a tiny possibility of winning.

Being the generous soul that she is, it's possible that she gave the entry to someone else. Just like the $35 Kicker headphones, which ended up going home with Julie, the friend she's taking on the pizza limo ride. Or the duplicate ducks that she gave to her friend (whose name she can't remember). Or the skinIT and x band watch she readily handed over to me.

All she really wanted was the complete set of ducks. 

'Cause that's how our obsessive girl rolls.

ps - the subscription link above is still active through Nov 16th, so if you need more magazines, check it out!  She'll earn more prizes that she can give away.  *grin*  No, the remaining prizes are cash, and she's smart enough not to give that away!

Grandma's Does It Again

Yet again, today we found ourselves at Grandma's Bakery, which was overflowing with yummy Halloween goodies. These were my favorite - gingerbread mummies.

So cute!  So nice to know that gingerbread men have a place outside of Christmas...

Things That Make Me Happy: SweeTango®

Yesterday I was overjoyed to find my new favorite snack apple variety - SweeTango® - in the grocery store. They're fairly new - they've been available locally (in short supply) for the last two years, but 2011 is the first year they're available nationwide.  If you're interested, you can read about them here...but all you really need to know is that, yes, they are more expensive, and yes, they are worth it!

DE-LICI-OUS!

ps - if you ever see Minneiska apples - they're the same thing, just not sold/marketed by the same company.