Twenty Dollars Can do Amazing Things

Last week was my son's last gymnastics class. He really loved gymnastics. I paid $50 for the course at the Y and he enjoyed every single minute of it. His favorite part was jumping on the trampolines but hanging from the bars came in as a very close second. A day or two before his last gymnastics class I told him that "in a week" he would be getting to ride a big horsey, for real, at a farm. I booked a horse riding lesson for him about a month ago. A friend of mine has a stable with several horses and she does lessons with small kids (usually a bit older than him but she said she was willing to give it a try). I should have waited at least two more days before I gave him the big news because he was CERTAIN there was going to be a "big horsey" at his last gymnastics class. First thing when he got there he asked coach Sarah where the big horsey was. Needless to say she was really confused. I know he's only two but I'm wondering where he thought they'd put a big horsey in the gymnasium.

I had to tell him every single day for a week, "you have 7 more night nights before riding the horse." Then 6, then 5, and so on. He would not stop talking about it. I paid $20 for him to ride the horse yesterday. He got to hold the rope and instruct the horse to back up. He learned how to tell the horse to walk, "kiss, kiss, walk." He learned how to tell the horse to stop, "woah". He LOVED every single second of his hour long class. There was a goat, a dog, other horses, and chickens running all around too. He's only two. He's most likely not going to remember his first horse riding lesson but it was one of the best days of his life so far.

We hardly ever buy my son new toys. I've been collecting kids books since 1999 when I taught in a learning centered daycare center so he almost never gets new books (and anyway there's always the library). 99% of his clothes are hand me downs from other people's children and I'm very okay with that. This kid is NOT missing out on anything though. I like to think I chose my spending opportunities for him very wisely. I'd say that was a very well spent $20.

Average daily spending for July: $17.38

$796 goal for chiropractor payment: $0