PB & J

We were at Target the other day, and as usual Collin wanted to bring home junk. This time it was one of the pamphlets about how much money gets donated to schools when you shop at Target - of course he wanted one for himself and one for Ella. He looked at it the whole way home. By the time we got home we were running very late and had to cram lunch in before heading off to school. I was trying to get the groceries in quickly and so I was leaving the back door open. I asked Collin to put down his pamphlet and watch Madelyn to make sure she wan't falling into the garage. Before long Madelyn was precariously perched at the top of the garage steps and Collin was standing in the hallway reading his beloved Target pamphlet - paying no attention. I came in, put his pamphlet in the trash and sent him up to his room. Five minutes later I called up to him "lunch is ready". Now keep in mind that independence is NOT one of Collin's strong suits - he would still have me spoon feeding him if it was up to him. When he got to the kitchen, Ella was sitting at the island with her plate of lunch and Collin's plate was sitting in his spot totally empty. "But I thought lunch was ready"? I explained that if he couldn't help me, that maybe I wouldn't help him. Today he would have to make his own lunch. You should have seen the look on his face - totally priceless!! He started to freak out, and I sat back to watch my briliant plan play out. But before I could pat myself on the back, he walked over and started trying to climb up on the island where I had made Ella's sandwich. I told him to get down, so he calmly walked to the dining room and dragged a chair over, and proceded to make his own PB & J. It was the worst looking thing I had ever seen - starting with the butt end of the bread and ended with about a pound of butter, a tiny amount of PB and an even less amount of jelly (apparently getting jelly out of the jar with a knife is a difficult task for a 5 year old). He put the sandwich - if you can call it that, on his plate and got out a stick of cheese and some grapes. Then he carried his plate to his spot and sat down to eat. I couldn't decide if I should be mad that my plan had failed, laugh at the ridiculousness of his sandwich, or be proud that he had actual made his own lunch! When I asked how his sandwich tasted he simply said, "pretty good". It was pretty funny, and he actually may have learned a lesson, because he was overly helpful the rest of the day. The best part was I also learned a lesson: From now on Collin's making lunch!!