His dream has been realised!

For a long, long time now Dexter has been hankering for an astronaut helmet. He saw one once in the museum shop and has never forgotten about it. I wasn't able to track one down for his 4th or 5th birthday or Christmas and when I did come across one it was in an online toy store in the US with a hefty freight charge added to the already hefty price tag.

Well, several weeks ago we came across a few, 4 I think, in our local toy store. They brought them in for Christmas but they didn't sell. Not surprising at $80 each! (Seriously, am I the only one who balks at a dress-up item costing that much?!). To cut a long story short Dexter decided he would use his birthday money from Nanny, given to him last November to buy his much longed for helmet. Problem was, he was $30 short. So we told him he could try and save the rest and buy the helmet when he had enough. A new concept. His first real foray into the world of earning and saving money.

We talked about ways of earning money and brainstormed the sorts of things he could do. He decided he could offer to wash Granny Kim's windows for a small sum. And he liked the idea of drawing some pictures to sell to his friends and family! He did not do the former, and while he did produce some lovely artworks he didn't end up getting around to selling them. (They were of rocket ships of course!)

(Counting his coins and checking his purse before we enetered the shop)

As it turns out he didn't really learn much about earning money at all. He simply raided every coin bowl, the toy cash register, various pouches and purses mixed up among his toys, the craft supplies (coins always end up in there for some reason) and searched between the cushions on the lounge and under furniture. He managed to come up with a pile of coins totalling $26!

The next idea was entirely his. He found 3 American $1.00 bills and 4 American quarters during his coin search. And came to me with a glint in his eye and announced that he would ask Papa Ward if he could exchange his American money for Australian money. Because you can use American money on Bermuda Mum! (Which is of course correct, both Bermudian and American currency are accepted there - who knew he was paying such close attention when we were there at Christmas time?)

Voila! $80 in his purse. A trip to the toy store today and my boy has himself a helmet. The very last one in stock too. Phew close call!

(He started to take off the packaging before we even left the store. Which was fine actually, as it wasn't going ot fit in my bike's saddle bag in it's box).

(Even though it was 30 degrees, this is how he spent the afternoon and evening)!