Sunday, July 11, 2010

Lemonade Stand

Yesterday my daughter and her friend had their first lemonade stand. I'd like to give a shout-out to the people who stopped and bought some lemonade. The kids were absolutely thrilled.

A couple of years ago my friend Kathy informed me that I'm obligated to stop at every lemonade stand I see, now that I'm a parent. I don't think I had ever stopped at one before. Really, who wants an overfilled, lidless plastic cup of tepid Kool-Aid? But, of course she was right.

So yesterday, on my way home from the grocery store in a car filled with melting frozen lemonade, I passed a little lemonade stand a block from my house. And I realized I had to stop, even though I was about to have more lemonade in my house than I knew what to do with. So, I backed up to the stand and bought a cup. The little girl was so thrilled that she actually jumped up and down, shrieking to her little brother, "I sold one! I sold one!" It was kind of wonderful to experience that much joy, and for only twenty-five cents.

So, I went home and helped my daughter and her friend set up their stand, and it was the same thing. It was a hot day, and there wasn't much traffic. In the two hours they sat there, they had only nine customers, and my husband was two of them. But they were thrilled with every sale they made, ecstatic every time a car slowed down. So, thanks to all you people who get it, and who stopped and made my little girl's day.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Two Schedules

Last night my husband and I went out to dinner, and hired a babysitter to stay with our daughter. This was a new babysitter, so I made out a little schedule for the evening so she would know how we do things. It was simple enough:

Eat dinner
Play
Read
Brush teeth and put on pajamas
Bedtime

What I didn't know is that my daughter also anticipated the need for an evening schedule, and made one of her own. When I gave my list to the babysitter, my daughter popped into the room to give the babysitter her list too. Its focus is delightfully different:

Jump rope
Hide and seke
Eat Smartys
Draw picshrs
Play camping
Eat dinner
Play on the cumputer
Wach TV

Looks like I'd missed a few crucial things.