Perfect Gifts

On my trip away, I shopped for gifts/bribes for my boys.  These would be rewards for good behaviour for the week I was gone, or presents under the Christmas tree if they had not earned it.  Luckily for all involved, they behaved very well and they got the goods soon after I got home.

I had bought both the boys medieval action figures, but replaced Teddy's set with a magic kit at the last minute.  This proved to be a brilliant stroke, as it gave him the chance to show off and be the center of attention.  Not that the kid is a ham or anything.  His comedic skills were put to extra use as he pretended to goof up the trick, and then act all surprised when it really worked.

The funny thing is, he was dying to tell us the trick.  Thereby robbing himself of the pleasure of ever performing that trick for us again.  We tried to persuade him to take on Barley as a "Magician's Apprentice" instead.  This way he could share the secret with Barley, who is all about CONTROL anyway, and the 2 of them could yuck it up over DH and me.

Well, by the end of the evening, they had told us all of the tricks.  They don't seem disappointed at not being able to repeat the mystery...instead, every visitor to our house is now accosted with, "Do you want to see a cool trick?"

Barley's presents went over big.  He told me all about how his D&D knight character pinned an ogre to the wall with a giant lance, and acted out the scene for me with his new figures.  He posed them up on his bed, and gave me a big hug to thank me. 

He also got Mad Libs, and I think we will be buying a lot more of these in the future.  My non-verbal youngest was demanding nouns, verbs and adjectives from us, and then reading out long, multi-syllable words to share the funny story that results from the random words thrown in.  I think we've found a fun word game for this child who loves to be in control of his world!