Yes mum, you can put that on Facebook

This image shows JJ with a couple of his favourite things. One, a Beast Quest book which he is right into at present. Next is a fibre optic lamp that badly needs its batteries replacing and next to that is a plastic figurine of something gruesome that he found at the op shop the other day. In the background of the image you can see Monty with a camera flash evil eyes thing going on. And he said I could put it on Facebook if I want. Not sure if he gets the concept of this blog yet. I’ll show him one day – ‘Hi JJ’.

I’d dragged him into the op shop and he hates it when I make him come into one. He’s old enough to go exploring on his own now and this is the first thing he found. It cost about $2 so I said I’d buy it for him. I then found him a hooded top which another shopper said looked really nice on him. I moved on to find something for myself but found something The Surfer had asked me to keep an eye out for. Then JJ came over with another top that looked like it would fit.

I asked him to find out how much it was. Instead of looking at the tag (which I could have also done) he asked the woman we’d just been talking to who doesn’t even work at the shop who luckily didn’t mind. I’d had to gradually walk away from her while she was talking to us so I gathered she was up for a chat, so a nine year old boy asking for a price probably didn’t bother her one bit.

JJ also found a book and I eventually found a really nice dress. He conceded that he’d had an okay time at the shop and I think buying a couple of things to keep him entertained while showing him the joys of buying second hand is totally worth it.

Last night we watched his favourite show of the moment, ‘The Zoo’ and then I read him a book I haven’t read to him for ages. It’s called Crunch the Crocodile and it’s about a bullying crocodile who gets his comeuppance from the local animals who are sick of being scared of him. Apparently I used to read out the Crunch bit when he says his name and wants his lunch in a really good way that JJ remembers and I wasn’t quite up to scratch with it last night! How critical children can be.

After that I gave him a good tickle. He loves being tickled so long as it’s not on the armpits.

He enjoyed it so much that he got his little diary out and wrote down that he’d had the best day of his life because his mum tickled him. It confirmed for me that it’s much better to devote some time to him doing stuff like this than buying Nintendo DS games willy nilly (not that I do this that much anyway).

He also then showed me the other things he’d written in his diary. I felt very privileged and very loved. I think I’ll donate all his Christmas presents to the Salvation Army and spend some more time tickling him.