All Tuckered Out

It's 7 a.m., do you know where your child is? Mine is still fast asleep and hasn't moved since around 4 a.m. (maybe earlier). Usually David does a lot of moving even in his sleep so this is really amazing. We are often woken up several times in the night by his moving around in his sleep. Before we bought him a full size bed for his birthday we often heard a loud thud in the night as he fell out of bed. This was so normal he would just yell "I fell out of bed again," then pick himself up and return to sleep. You can't tell in the picture but David is sleeping in his normal place in the bed—sideways.

In the bed is his new friend Smoothie. Since babyhood all his stuffed animals have been named with an "ie" sound at the end. Smoothie is a ten-foot stuffed red and black snake. David was required to work at special chores around the house in order to earn spending money for the trip. Besides the normal make-your-bed and take-out-the-trash chores, he had to weed around the front of the house, lay down new mulch, edge the sidewalk and wash the cars. Some of the money he spent last week before we even left home and he would have spent the rest if he could have.

When we saw the sign at the front of the John Deere store yesterday he desperately wanted to buy a toy truck there. We refused to allow this and told him he would have to wait until the end of the vacation and we would return if that is what he chose. All day yesterday as we walked around the park he, with great glee, announced he was right and had not seen anything he wanted more than the truck. That lasted until we were leaving the park, when he saw Smoothie and had to have him. He still has a few dollars more to spend and is very happy with his purchase.

It is now 7:24 a.m. and he just woke up and is very happy and wants to go to the pool. But, breakfast first!