So, a couple of weeks ago Ethan and I were out and about on a cold, dark night. I dragged him out to staples with me to get some things laminated. As I was standing at the counter he ventured a few steps away from me and started looking at a small "dollar spot stand." He found this bag of little froggy erasers. I watched him stand there for a while and look at them and he seemed like he was in deep thought. He turned the bag around in his hands as he examined the froggy erasers. (I wish I had a picture of him standing there).
He then came back up to me and, in a round about way, asked if I could buy these and take them home to give them away as presents. I asked him who he would give them to...and he went on to list the people he wanted to give them to..."Grandma, Papa, Mama, Dada, Dakota, Rece, Brody, Leah....." the list went on and on.
I thought this was soooo cute, so, of course, I bought the frog erasers. We came home and had our own fun with them as we sorted them by color, counted them, loaded them up in his cars, etc.
The next day Grandma came over and Ethan was so excited to give her one. :) He also hand delivered one to Papa, and has given one to his babysitter, Hannah. He picked out one for Dada and one for Mama. He is still waiting to give the rest away. So sweet!
It is so cute to watch how excited he gets to give someone something. I remember a few weeks earlier as he jumped and squealed as he watched Dada open up a picture he had colored for him. Ethan has discovered the true joy that comes from giving!
As for me, this frog eraser will serve as a reminder of my sweet boy Ethan and the tender heart he has.
Okay - one more cute story about giving...
So, we participated in the "Operation Christmas Child" shoe box drive at church. You basically pick a boy or girl and an age range to buy some things for and place inside a shoe box. We made this into a family outing as we went to Target to get things for another 2 year old boy.
We had to explain to Ethan over and over again that we WEREN'T getting him any toys, but we were buying toys for another little boy who didn't have any.
Ethan helped us pick out some toys, a shirt, a car, a toothbrush, socks, a ball, and some other items to place in the shoebox. We also got a pack of small play doughs.
We came home and carefully arranged everything inside the box. I was so impressed with how good Ethan had handled this (without getting anything for himself) that I told him we would put 3 of the play doughs in the box and he could have 2 of them.
To my surprise, he took his 2 play doughs and decided that he would also put them in the box. I asked him again - "Do you want 2 play doughs for you?" And his answer was no - he wanted to give them all to another little boy!
Is this sweet, or what?
Now, Ethan may not always be an angel ;o) - but moments like these are priceless!
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