Missing in Action

After much debate, Jon and I finally decided to explain to the boys that when they work they earn a paycheck.  They are learning about money and that it costs money to buy things, so we figured that since they are in a bit of a unique situation in that they make a little bit of their own money at 3 years old, we decided use that to our/their advantage to start teaching them all of the wonderful lessons that are wrapped up in the value of a dollar.  So when their latest paycheck arrived from their shoot with Step 2 earlier this winter, we decided to involve the boys in depositing their checks into their bank accounts as well as letting them keep a few dollars for themselves. 

They immediately knew what they wanted to buy!  Shortly after delving into their current passion that is Thomas the Train, they discovered the Chuggington trains and transferred 65% of their passion to this new series of trains.  Except that mommy and daddy had just spent all of Christmas building a train set around their initial Thomas infatuation, so we refused to buy them even a single Chuggington engine!  Yet armed with their own money, and since the things are all under $10 a piece, off we went to let them buy their very own Chuggington train.  It was the first time they were truly able to decide completely on their own what to buy and I've got to admit that while I was proud, it was also a bit hard to let go of that control!  Yet I was able to instantly see their pride over this most prized possession that they earned, they chose, and they bought and I was reminded once again that my babies are growing up.  Both of the boys were inseparable from their beloved Action Chugger from the moment the cashier handed it to them.

So of course- two days later Matthew lost his!  Oh the trauma!  I've got to give the kid credit- he handled it quite well.  And Caleb, though reluctant, was able to share his Action Chugger so that Matty could still play with one- but it just wasn't the same and he spent most of the day quite sad.  So being the devoted mother that I am, I turned this house upside down in search of Matthew's missing Action Chugger.  I emptied drawers and bins both upstairs and down.  I dumped Duplo's out of the Duplo bin and underwear out of the underwear drawer.  I used a flashlight to illuminate under the couch and then three hours later when we still couldn't find the gosh darn thing, I moved the couch across the living room to be certain I hadn't missed it.  Under said couch I found 26 crayons, 14 Duplo blocks, three socks, two helicopters, and a slice of felt pizza- but no Action Chugger.  So I finally called Jon at work to let him know that he needed to make an emergency stop on his way home for a replacement. 

While starting dinner at approximately 4:00pm, the boys were happily entertaining themselves at the train table when Matthew shrieked with joy!  MAMA, I FOUND IT!  I GOT ACTION CHUGGER!!!  Apparently he had set it down on the window sill of the living room window and it was hidden behind the curtain.  I immediately phoned Jon with an urgent ABORT MISSION message but I was too late.  We are now the proud owners of three Action Chuggers- two purchased by two little boys learning the value of a dollar and one purchased by a loving father trying to rescue a loving mother's sanity in the first of what is sure to be many Missing in Action emergencies!  We decided to keep the third one hidden in the junk drawer just incase we encounter this problem again!