The kids and I went shopping for school supplies on Tuesday. They were over-tired to begin with, as I had just picked them up from a 3-day stay with their aunt and uncle where bedtimes were much later than normal. Logan, especially, was whiny, as he tends to be when he hasn’t gotten enough sleep.
Roughly an hour and a half later (yeah, I know, I’m not the most speedy shopper), as we dragged our tired selves over to the shoe section to find skids for the four of them for activity period, the boys had asked me a thousand times if we were done yet.
“Not yet,” I answered mechanically, also for the thousandth time, wishing I could somehow magically transport us all back home without having to actually drive the 40-minute trip. “We still have to get shoes.”
A tedious task at the best of times, finding shoes that each child would like when they were already cranky didn’t seem like a fun prospect at all. Our small town is notorious for having fairly small selections in terms of style, and even smaller selections for size. Unless a person doesn’t mind stopping at every store in town with four tired kids in tow, one must reconcile herself with the choices put in front of her.
The girls’ shoe hunt went fine. They were flexible with their selections and their size, finally the same as mine, was easy to find.
Phew.
So we traipsed over to the boys’ section and located the Spider-Man shoes. (If I haven’t mentioned it before, Cody is absolutely obsessed with Spider-Man and has been since he was about 3. Needless to say, Logan shares the fondness, though not nearly to the same extent as Cody.) I found a pair for Logan.
Perfect.
But there were no Spider-Man shoes available in Cody’s size.
“Shoot, Cody, I guess you’re going to have to pick something else,” I told him.
Before Cody could protest, Logan piped up in his helium-infused, 2-year-old-sounding voice:
“Cody, that’s OK. I won’t get Spider-Man shoes either since you can’t, because that wouldn’t be faaaaaaiiiiiiirrrrrrrr,” he said, drawing out the last word like he does when he’s intent on making a point.
And he didn’t. They each picked out Iron-Man shoes instead.
When I related this story to the kids’ uncle the next day, echoing my thoughts, he said, “You just can’t teach that, can you? They either have it, or they don’t.”
I’m so proud that Logan has it.
How have your kids impressed you with their innate personality traits? What do you admire the most about your child/ren?
My four all have it too, and I’m glad.
That is so darn sweet! Love this!
This is the sweetest story. Logan definitely “has it.”
You are definitely one of the lucky ones, most kids don’t have that kind of same sense of fairness, although I disagree that it’s some sort of innate ability. I think with careful parenting, showing them right and wrong and being a good role model, kids pick up on that kind of thing.
So really, I’m applauding your parenting skills lol