Learning about life as a four year old

Dear Aunty Lola,

After saving her special birthday money in her treasure box for quite a long time, Ellie finally decided that the time had come to spend it.  So, we dressed up, grabbed our handbags and headed off to the shops.

First port of call was the ice cream shop where Ellie bought herself a single cone of rainbow ice cream. YUM.

After enjoying this immensely and, surprisingly, not getting herself in too much of a mess, we then made our way up to Big W.  Once inside, we made a small detour to the jewellery section as Ellie pondered buying some jewels, but then headed on over to the toy section.

Well, there was so much to choose from.  Mummy read out the prices of the things that Ellie could afford.  Ellie spent a sizable amount of time considering her options, but not really sure of anything.  Until…….she spotted the princess tiara.  There was no question then.  Ellie, who absolutely loves dressups, decided that this was the thing that she simply had to buy.

So After popping it on her head and taking a photo of her wearing it (to send to Evan), we decided to buy the crown.  On the way out we spotted some cheerleader pom poms that, luckily, Ellie still had enough money to buy.

It was with great delight that Ellie placed her items on the checkout and then searched in her handbag for her very own money to pay for it with.  And, not only that,she even got a little bit of change from the checkout lady!

This shopping experience was such a delight for Ellie, that she insisted that we had to go shopping again to spend her left over 70 cents.  Hmmmm, where could we go that you could buy something for only 70 cents?

The second hand shop! 

We looked at lots of things that were worth less than a dollar.  Dolls clothes, books, candles and nick nacks.  Again, Ellie just could not decide. 

But then, she spotted the must have item.  A box, shaped like a treasure box.  This she had to have.  Luckily, she had just the right amount of money.

We went up to see the store person and Ellie handed over her 70 cents.  All should have been happy smiles.  Ellie had a beautiful new box and she had got to buy it with her very own money.  But Ellie was NOT happy.  She was angry.  Something was not right with this process.

The shop keeper DID NOT GIVE HER ANY CHANGE!  In Ellie’s mind this was the way things were meant to work.  Fancy not getting any change.

Mummy then had to explain all about how you had to work to earn money to spend.  You couldn’t just have a magical endless supply.  Ellie was still not especially happy about these new facts of life that she was now learning.  Mummy tried to get Ellie to see that if she stayed angry she was not going to enjoy the lovely new thing that she had just purchased.

Eventually, Ellie calmed down and started to think.  Perhaps she would be able to do some jobs for mummy when she got home.  Then she could save up more money.  And what was even better, she now had a lovely new treasure box to put all of her hard earned money into.

So, that is what she did.  For every job that Ellie did, mummy gave her 5cents. When Ellie earned two 5 cents she could swap them for ten cents.  If she earned four 5 cents she could swap them for twenty cents.  Two Twenty cents and a ten cent could be swapped for 50 cents. And two 50 cents could be swapped for a fancy gold coin! Wow!

On Saturday, Ellie found a poor battered 20 cent piece on the drive way.  She happily scooped it up and added it to her growing fortune.

On Sunday, Ellie went to church and missed getting a “bless you” from the priest during communion because she was outside playing.  After Mass she asked the priest for her “bless you”.  She was holding a money box and the priest not only gave Ellie a blessing, but also gave her 50cents for her money box.

Ellie was finding that her money was growing and growing.  Soon she will have enough to go back to the shop and do some more shopping.

Who could have thought that one simple $20 gift could bring so much joy, so many experiences and so many life lessons to one little four year old.

Hope you are well and that you enjoyed reading about Ellie’s adventures.

Lots of love From Emma and Ellie.

Betting on the Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup horse race is touted as 'the race that stops the nation'.  If anyone is ever likely to have a flutter on the races, it will be at the 7th race of the Melbourne Cup.

There are 10 races across the day and each one has a lot of runners, so the odds of picking a winner aren't great compared to other horse racing carnivals.  The main race of the day has 24 runners! It's a long race so traditionally it is really hard to pick the winner.  Sometimes the favourite wins, but not often.

Office Sweeps are a tradition for the main race. Steve rang this morning to ask the kids if they wanted him to buy them some tickets in the office sweep stakes. Silly question really, asking them if they would like the chance to maybe win some free money, of course they'd say yes.
It was funny, though, Harry answered the phone and really couldn't quite get what Steve was saying.  He kept glancing toward our home office and repeating back to Steve with a confused look on his face "sweets in the office?"  I think he thought he was being offered a big bag of lollies that were somewhere in our office.  he may actually have preferred that to winning on the sweep stakes.

I joined up with the TAB on Friday with the thought that seeing as I am home with Ellie all day I may as well watch all the races and bet on them just for a bit of fun.  But betting is much more fun in a group, because then like the football tipping contests, you not only get the joy of winning, but you also get the joy of beating everyone else too......(or losing). So I figured that I'd print out all the races for the day and get the kids to pick their favourite horse for each race. Then I'd put $2 on each race for everyone, $1 on a win and $1 on a place, a bet each way.  If the whole family played, excluding Ellie, it would be $100 bucks for the day....imagine how much we might win.....

Then I thought a bit harder about the $100.  I'd be really happy if someone gave me $100, it's a decent amount of money. Imagine $100 bucks for me to go and buy whatever I like.  So why would I give $100 away just like that, with the real possibility of losing the lot?

Instead of me parting with my money to the TAB, I have set up the mummy tote here at home. At the moment it is only Ellie and I playing, the kids can join in when they get home if they like. At mummy tote we are betting 10c pieces.  We have an ice cream container full of lose change, so I am using the 10c pieces out of it.  Again, we are betting each way, 10c on a win and 10c on a place.  I will see who is ahead by the end of the day.

Ellie chose her horses by picking up bits of paper with the horse's number on it.  I wrote all the numbers on envelopes and 'rained' then down on her head.  Whichever one she picked up first was her choice, unless she picked up a handful of envelopes and then it was the last one left in her hand.
I chose my horses just by name, If I liked the name then that was the one that I picked. No science involved at all. This is a 100% gamble.

So how did we go?
Ellie won 160c, but having spent 200c she was 40c behind.  I won 450 cents. I spent 200 cents so was 250 cents ahead.  I guess picking horses by name works better than picking their numbers randomly.