Today I was visiting my daughter and her youngest son, Tyler. He’s four. He reminds me so much of my youngest, Craig, when he was that age. Busy. Straightforward. He was out playing with his neighbor, Ella, who is a few months younger while my daughter, Erin, and I are visiting.
Tyler comes in and wants to look for frogs along the creek with Ella. Erin gives him permission. He gets out a bucket and goes looking for frogs. I don’t think he’s going to be able to keep frogs in the bucket, but that’s for him to find out.
Tyler and Ella come back a bit later with a bucket of rocks. Apparently the frogs weren’t cooperating. They had collected all kinds of rocks, but mostly smooth – like they had been tumbled. Tyler and Ella are going to sell rocks. They, with mom’s help, set up a rock stand by the house. The house sits about 60′ off the road. Soon they discover their selected spot is not particularly good for attracting customers, so they move the “stand” closer to the street. They’re sitting out there waving to cars (and getting a honk back from one car), but no one’s buying. I go out there to take pictures and talk to them. I point to one rock and ask them why they picked that rock. “It’s very heavy,” Ella said.
“How much do you want for the rocks,” I asked. With no hesitation at all Ella said, “Five dollars,” as she gave a knowing look to Tyler.
At four years, I’m not sure Ella even knows what five dollars is, but she’s not afraid to name her price.
Five minutes later, the kids have lost interest and are off on their next adventure. Ah to be four again!
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