Sam is getting really into super heroes, soldiers, and that sort of alpha-male thing. Being the bargain hunter I am (see previous entry “Best Money Ever Spent”), I stockpile random toys from the Dollar Aisle at Tar-jay and then sock them away for a “rainy day.” OK, let’s face it, I whip out one of those suckers out when I need a good bribe, which I call a “reward” to ease my Catholic conscience. So a while back I picked up a bag of plastic Army men, those old-fashioned olive green and drab brown ones, for the next emotional downpour.

At the beginning of Sam’s swimming lesson at Morgan Swim School the other day, he was pitching a fit (literally) that he didn’t want to go. First I offered him some ice cream after the lesson was over, a usual bulls-eye. His response was, “Can you mix a brownie in it?” That’s my boy! (I LOVE ice cream, especially with mix-ins.) Still though, he was a sobbing mess hanging onto the car door. So I resorted to the rainy day bribe supply and offered him the army men if he did a good job at his class.

Needless to say once the class started, he was a-OK. By the time I went to pick him up, he was lying on his back in the pool belting out a few stanzas of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” I was impressed as I’m not quite sure I could do that. On the way home, he made sure to hit me up for the brownie-filled ice cream and soldiers, and I came through. (Bait and switch does not work well on the 4-year-old mind. Then again, no one likes to be conned.)

That night Sam showed Daddy Mac his new soldiers. Daddy Mac asked, “Did you know that Mommy used to be a soldier?” Sam was silent for a minute and then asked, “In the olden days?”

Yes, in the olden days. Now go to your room!

LibbY