Samuel has a very special eye for all things shiny and sparkly. Almost every day he comes home from school with something new that he found on the playground that he just can’t wait to share with me. Items that I have been presented with so far include: colored beads of every shape and size, charms from necklaces and bracelets (although nothing that could pay for my retirement), a handkerchief (ewww), about a dozen hair ties that were especially for me, and at least a couple of dollars worth of pennies. In fact, he found 4 pennies just by crawling under the table while we were out for dinner a few nights ago.

It definitely pays to go through Samuel’s pockets before I do the laundry.

I love that we’ll be walking down the street and all of a sudden he’ll stop and pick up something shiny that he spotted on the ground. Well, most of the time anyway. Sometimes I have to tell him it’s something we should leave on the ground (foil from a candy wrapper, for example, or more hair ties).

Who knows? Maybe he’ll strike it rich one day and that plastic gem he picks up will turn out to be a diamond. I’m sure that’s part of his plan. This kids knows the value of a penny.