Happy at Home, Noises and All

Today was a day spent less on the job hunt and more on home-related activities.   We first met with Jingle's teacher for parent-teacher conference this morning - no surprises there.  He's brilliant as expected. (I am required to state this as his mother).   Then, Mr. Mingle went off to work, and I came home to get a slow-cooking soup on.  On tonight's menu is split pea soup, which is perfect for this very rainy day.  It's almost as if I planned the menu for the weather (which I didn't, but I will pretend I did).

Afterwards I did some small job-related activity and then headed back to Jingle's school for the book fair again.  Unlike on Monday, today there were a lot of kids there wanting to buy books, erasers, and pencils during their lunch break.  I ran the cash register for two hours and quickly learned to ask the kids how much money they had before I rung them up.  They would come up with $30 worth of stuff and then I would tell them the total and they would pull like $6 out of their grubby pocket and ask "is this enough?"   oh no Sweetie...  You need to put back most of these things....  There were also some kids who came with handfuls of coins and eyes wide "What can I buy with this?"  ... usually, the answer to that was... "well... you can buy an eraser..."   Here is how the purchases broke down in general... little girls left with kitten posters and little boys left with lego-related books.

By the time I was finished Jingle's school was over and I brought him home with me.   We have spent the last hour or so doing his homework and then art projects.  His aunt bought him this really cool gift which consists of a monthly surprise delivery based upon a theme and it includes two art projects and other related items.  This month's theme was 'Money' and the art projects were a duck-tape wallet and an owl (piggy) bank which he could paint.   It also came with some rare coins from other countries (i.e. Ugandan something-or-other), stickers, and a cookie snack.   I'm not sure who is more excited to get these monthly deliveries - Jingle, or his parents!

At the moment, he's sitting behind me on the couch making a story up with some magnetic cars he's playing with.    I love it when the kids get involved in a dialogue with their toys or stuffed animals and can make up an entire conversation all by themselves.  Oh shoot, I just sighed loudly and disrupted his concentration, "Are you okay Mama?"    This kid is super attuned to any noises.  Actually both my kids are - is that the same for all children? 

Kid: "What is that?"
Mom: "A car."
Kid: "What is that?"
Mom: "Another car."
Kid: "What is that?"
Mom:  "What is what?"
Kid: "That noise"
Mom: "What noise"
Kid: "It sounded like a 'tick'"
Mom: "I'm not sure, I didn't hear any noises over your singing".  [How do they hear other noises while they are singing??]

Jingle and his Owl Bank