6 yr old obsessions - Money and Dogs!

My 6 yr old is obsessed with 2 things. Money and Dogs.. and not necessarily in that order!

First the Money Obsession

If you read my previous post, you would not be surprised! His biggest role models now are Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Cheeky and my retired dad have some very scintillating conversations apparently. And in a weak moment my dad has told  him about his ex-boss (VM), who apparently followed Jack Welch a lot! So Cheeky had a brain wave one afternoon as we navigated Chennai traffic!

He said "I think J Thatha (Granddad) should hire VM to work for him"

"Or better yet may be he could hire Bill Gates, or maybe both of them" (Each statement kept getting higher in pitch as the excitement grew)

"Then" He paused for effect "They can both make money for him and thatha can give all the money to me"! What a plan!

More recently.. on one of those couped up car rides, I figured I would use Cheeky's strategy of talking to him while I had his attention! So I told him about a friend who works for Microsoft! And Cheeky was impressed "Wow, so he makes Bill Gates richer?" he asked.

I said "Not for free you know, V gets a salary out of it"

Cheeky says "Thats not very smart of Bill Gates.. why is he giving his money away?"

Yeah what we want is Slavery to be re-established! If Cheeky became Bill Gates' financial advisors, Microsoft employees will sure rue the day!!

And now to the Doggie problem!

Ever since Cheeky found out at the age of 4, that having a twin sibling is out of the question, he has wanted a pet dog! Even producing him with a sibling has not solved matters! On the same car ride, he switched topics so fast, my head was reeling! I think he was trying to con me into acceptance!

"And I need a dog" he said!

But I have had proactice being Cheeky's mom! So I said "No way"

"But mom thats so unfair"

"You know dogs chew on carpeting and furniture"

"No they Dont!"

"Yes when you leave them alone at home.. they get lonely and they chew on furniture" I sure know how to goad Cheeky on!

"But I am not going to leave him alone! I will keep him with me at all times" It has been established the dog is a boy!

"What about when you go to school?"

"You can take care of him amma!"

"What about when I need to pick you up at school?"

"I am sure you can bring him to school then, its not like he will enter classrooms"

"But Cheeky I need to get a job and go to work" I am not being stuck with a dog at home all day!!

After a lot of thought

Cheeky asked "Amma does J thatha like being retired?"

"Yes"

"Do you think he will ever want to go back to work?"

"No"

"Perfect, then he can take care of the dog"

Apparently retired grand dads have a lot of uses!!

What would you rather be Rich or Famous?

What is it about being cooped up in a car that makes the kids think that this is the time to wax eloquent about anything and everything on their mind? The fact that I cant jump out, tune out or even glare at them... glaring at the rear view mirror does not count, makes it all the more easier! It is at times like these that I have life breaking insights into my 6 yr old's mind.

Cheeky has always been curious... like this morning at the doctors he had to know why the doctor's office was not marked "Employees Only" while one of the restroom's was! Why there were pictures of scary skeletons on the wall.. did they want to scare people away? But it was the ride back that was very amusing!

As always having me in the hot seat is the best part of Cheeky's day! He had me talking about Bill Gates and Warren Buffet! How do they make their money he wanted to know. After a long winded conversation about Stocks and Investments ... Cheeky asked me "So what would you rather be Rich or Famous?". Hey I just spent the past 10 minutes talking to you about stock and this is the return on investment I get?

Anyway Cheeky's questions as you all know are not to be taken lightly! So I answered almost immediately "Rich". Apparently I got it right!

"It is good to be rich right, especially in times of emergency" He said!

Emergency? Thinking about natural disasters, not being able to get to work becuase I have 2 demanding kids, emergency shopping trips I asked him "What kind of emergencies?"

"Like wanting a Finn Mc Missile". At our trip to the grocery store this week, he had badly wanted the latest Cars character (from the Cars 2 movie) and I had refused!

Remind me to hide my winning lottery from this guy!

[Edited to Add: A friend asked me "Whats it with kids and money?" and reminded me of a conversation we had a little while ago!

"Mommy how much money do you have in the bank? A million dollars?"

"No!"

"So do we have less or more?"

"Less.. definitely less!"

"A little less than a million?"

A couple of weeks later we visited India.. My son was found telling his Aunt "You know I wish my Dad has a million dollars.. he doesnt!" Sad face!

W-H-A-T?

And a couple more days later at the ATM.

The Non-Millionaire Dad went in to withdraw money while we waited in the car!

"Amma.. where does the money come to the ATM from?"

"Why doesnt Daddy just take all the money in the ATM?"

"Cheeky he can only take the money he has in his account".. that led to a long conversation about how money gets into the bank and how the money stays in the bank, and how saving the money was a good idea!

"I am not at all sure it is safe to leave all the money in the bank. I think we should just keep the money ourselves and not give any to the bank"

"But Cheeky they keep it safe for us"

"But Amma what if the bank gets robbed? There are so many bank robberies you know"

Someone has been reading one too many mystery novels! What did I do? What would I do... I put my head out the window and yelled to the Poor Dad "Can we go yet?"

And like Cheeky often says "I rest my case!"!!]

Trading on cute?

I am dropping off the radar everywhere.... Blogging and Social networking included. And not many have noticed! I am surprised some handful noticed at all... What with friend lists running in multiples of 100, it's a miracle people notice my quiet existence! Why am I quiet? What with a pixie and a monkey at home all the time... One getting in trouble from being her pixie self, and the other from boredom... As you can imagine I have my hands pretty full!
The pixie is giving a new meaning to the word parenthood...this 1 yr old minx pretends to sleep..she will tightly scrunch her eyes closed...but forgets to stop grinning, so we figure her out anyway...and then she is bounding again! A couple of days ago..she was found giving her dad heart flutters as she repeatedly pretended to fall! Since when did 1 year olds learn to mock and tease?
She is in her terrible 2's already..she throws open every cupboard and drawer and raids them...repeatedly..multiple times a day. Why I bother cleaning up is a mystery I am yet to answer! A few months back we moved to a bigger place, so the kids will have more room to roam and grow! Big mistake...now they have more room to mess up! A friend who lives in a similar home gave me some money saving tips..she fashioned a gate for the stairway out of a folded cardboard box! Her 1.5 yr old stays out of it. My pixie figured out in 2 days how to slide at out and get in!! Now I ask you where is the time to blog?

And she is a true pixie..she gets away with a cute smile and grin..laughing silently at my frustration! Her brother summed it up for me this morning! She tried to con him out of his toy car ..she gave him a big smacky kiss and a cute smile. He is Cheeky..wiser than me... So he responded "Tootsie you can't always trade on cute you know" and walked away with his car!