The Climber and The Octopus Pool.

Unlike his spendthrift younger brother, Climber has always preferred to put aside his birthday and Christmas money.   I think he quite likes having money, as opposed to spending money.  He only wants to spend it on stuff that he really wants, specifically stuff that he doesn't think will come to him any other way.  And (again, unlike his little brother) he doesn't really want a lot of stuff. He is currently sitting on a nest egg of a couple of hundred dollars, and I'd been thinking I really ought to get around to opening a bank account for him, just in case he started frittering it away on illicit sugary treats.  But then he suddenly announced last week that what he really wanted was to buy a kid's pool for our backyard, and could we take him shopping please.

Although I did think this would be a fun way for him to spend his money, his request made me remember that somewhere in the deeps of the junk cupboard in the sewing room was an inflatable pool that someone had given us a long time ago.  It seemed worthwhile to check if that one was any good before making a trip to a shopping mall. 

The pool from the back cupboard turned out to be quite fancy, with a central octopus fountain that also doubled as a quoits game.

Fixit set it up for the boys, and they did have a happy frolic in it, but I think on Climber's part it was less than wholeheartedly. Not because of anything wrong with the pool, just that it had dashed his dreams of owning his own pool, although of course he never said as much. With words anyway. He walked away from it after a surprisingly short play, not sulky, but not happy either.

However, on day two, Climber went out on his own to play in the octopus pool, and after half an hour of wild splashing he came in and said I'm sorry I said that pool wasn't very good. It's really cool. I really like it.

And then the games were on.

Other backyard equipment - of course - was dragged in to improve the set-up.

I made sure Fixit came out to supervise the safety of the procedures. Some of the slide-balanced-on-a-milk crate stuff was making me nervous. I'm such a sissy.

Of course, if Climber still wants to buy his own we could do that. It would be pretty cool to be thirteen years old and to own your own pool.

But meanwhile, it brought home to me the way in which Climber is often the catalyst for fun stuff around here. He's always been a dreamer, but he's very good at making his dreams come to life. I love that about him. He could have a happy life with those skills.