It's about Sharing

On thursday we played Santa as we delivered roughly 200 toys to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on behalf of Rooting for a Reason.  We owe this to the generous individuals and businesses who came together to bring smiles to patients this Christmas! Thanks to everyone who sent their toys to me, to Liz McNulty, and to our drop off sites at Studio 2 Advertising, Aw Else Boutique, Doud's Furniture, and Community Pediatrics Natrona Heights. 

The McNulty "Elves" in front of the toy donations.

On the morning of the delivery, Reed woke up with pink eye.  He was so bummed to miss out on the toy delivery and a birthday party planned for him and his buddy Case. I was disappointed too- I wanted to him to experience the joy of giving. Still, I was relieved that our greatest problem for the day was only pink eye. I kept Ramsey home as well, just to be safe. 

We're trying to teach Reed the importance of sharing and saving. When Ramsey was hospitalized, a sweet 4 year old gave him his own birthday money.  All who came to his party were asked to bring a few dollars instead of gifts. The money was placed into three jars- a save jar, a share jar and a spend jar. When asked if he wanted to share the money with Ramsey or with an animal shelter, he picked Ramsey...and threw some extra cash into the jar! We decided to get three similar jars for Reed.  We made three banks labeled share, spend, and save. He calls the spend jar his "tractor store" bank because he loves to buy toys from the Tractor Supply Store.  We've been a bit disappointed (and slightly amused) that his spend bank is much heavier than the other two. I hoped that he would learn the lesson on his own, without us pushing the issue.

As we prepared the toys for delivery to CHP, my proudest mom moment occurred. Reed gathered 10 envelopes along with his "spend" bank and put a handful of money into each to give to the "sick kids".  That spend bank might remain the first one that he fills, but if he's willing to share it then I'm a happy mom!