A conversation two days ago with MM:

“Mommy, I want to do a project.”

“Well, what kind of project?”

“How about we make a treasure chest!”

“A treasure chest?”

“For my gold doubloons!” (duh!)

Clearly my son has been watching way too much Jake and the Neverland Pirates but how could I turn him down when he sounds SO cute saying doubloons? Bonus points for the big words right? So I spent the afternoon digging through cardboard until I finally found a perfect shoe box from Lands End that was mostly brown and colorable.

Today I found some pirate-themed stickers that we could color ourselves and then decorate the treasure chest with. I grabbed those and some washable markers and we got to work after putting BB down for her nap (I don’t care if they are washable, I’m not using markers of any kind when she’s awake just yet).

It was a time-consuming project, surprisingly, but still easy. I wrote [MM’s] treasures on the top in big bubble letters and drew a lock on the front then helped him with coloring all the stickers. He colored in the letters and chose sticker placement and now he’s totally ready to start collecting treasure!

I am already picturing the marble collections and baseball cards and random awesome rocks that he might keep in this box. Maybe he’ll hold onto it forever and someday when he’s going to college he’ll debate whether or not to bring it with him and he’ll look through the box of his most treasured possessions and smile and remember what a fun mom he has.

More likely he’ll somehow manage to break it before morning, but hey? I can dream right?