Mr. Krabs

Harrison is obsessed with money.  He loves to collect it, to count it, and to sort it.  We call him Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob.  He has a special money holder that Stephen gave him where he puts his allowance, money he finds, or money he "finds."  On the latter point, he has come home from friends' houses with a handful of change saying that he found it under their couch or on the floor!  I, of course, tell him he has to give it back, but the moms usually say, "hey, he did me a favor by cleaning under my couch, so he can keep it."  Needless to say, the behavior gets reinforced...

We did have to counsel him when he brought bobby pins to the zoo to pick the locks of the donation bins!  His reasoning was that the money was just sitting there and not being used or admired.  Wishing fountains present a similar temptation for him.  When we explained that the money in the donation bins goes to helping the zoo stay in operation and that the money in the wishing wells represents someone's wish, he understood and stopped his pursuits.  But it did not deter the fascination with money. Sometimes he will wake up early in the morning and say that he wants to count his money.  My grandpa (my mom's dad, who lives with her for six months out of the year) has two big coin jars, so when we go over to my mom's house, which we did this weekend, Harrison is in penny heaven.  We have a future banker on our hands for sure!

I am including a couple cute pictures of Harrison with his buddy, Max.  Sadly, Max just moved away.  These two were fast friends from the start and had a lot of fun together last year.