The Piggy Bank

A few days before Spring Break, I went to Michael's and loaded up on craft projects. We had suncatchers, beads and ceramic things to use permanent markers on. The biggest hit was the small piggy bank.

Charlie's, surprisingly, was a very green little piggy.

As they were coloring them, I gave them each a few pennies to put in their banks. Charlie, not completely realizing that each child had their own, generously told Melody, "I take you pennies. I put dem in my piggybank. I keep them safe fo you and share dem wit you."

Melody was indignant, but we talked her down.

Since then, the piggy bank has been a major thing for Charlie. Since one of his great joys in life is a Happy Meal, he frequently talks about how, "I'm gunna fill up my piggy bank all da way to da top, den go to McDonald's and get a Happy Meal and play wif da toy and even get ice cweam. Den, if I don't like da toy, you can take me to da store and I can get anudder one."

Sure thing, kid. He knows I'd never buy him a Happy Meal, ice cream and toy all in one day, so he's on his own.

When his school had a book fair, he was going to take his piggy bank and buy all the books 'wif cars in dem'. As it was, Dowlan took him (sans piggy bank) and bought him what has to be the ultimate in Charlie joys--a Hot Wheels book where they race through a volcano. The green car in the book is a car that he actually has AND wins the race. It doesn't get much better than that in his world.

(He reads this book at least ten times a day. If he doesn't know where it is, he makes you draw the pictures and tell him the words that should be on the page. It's really fun to be driving with him looking through the book in the backseat, saying, "NO! Read da words dat I'm looking at!" when you can't see the page. He also makes you read every word on the front and back cover, inside cover and title page. Dowlan, smart man that he is, has written Charlie's full name, address and phone number in this book. He hopes that the endless repetition will help him learn those things. So far, all we have is that Charlie will tell you, "M is my middle initial.")

Wanting money is something we've used to our advantage. He won't normally go to the bathroom without company, so we pay him off for going alone. We also give him a few cents for being a helper or eating something that's not green. It has its drawbacks, though. Last Sunday, he did NOT want to put the quarter I handed him into the offering plate. The entire church got to hear, "God does not NEED da quarter. My piggybank needs it more!"

Recently, Charlie has decided that stealing sips of my Diet Coke and Dowlan's Mountain Dew is simply not enough and he has been campaigning for his own Mountain Dew.

Charlie: I NEED da Mountain Dew.
Dowlan: Sorry, Charlie, but we can't have Mountain Dew. It's not for little guys.
C: But I'm a big character. And my big character needs a Mountain Dew.
D: We don't even have any Mountain Dew right now.
C: Den make some.
D: I can't make Mountain Dew. They make it in a factory.
C: Den I'll use da money in my piggy bank and buy a factory and have some Mountain Dew.

To quote Charlotte, that's some pig.