Piggy Banks

When James turned one, my husband and I took him to a local ceramic shop to paint a piggy bank.  We showed James the few options available, and he seemed most excited about the dog piggy bank, so we choose that one.  James did help paint the bank...mostly hand over hand, and when he got tired of doing that, he ran around the store closely monitored by one parent while the other parent finished up the painting job.

 

When Sam turned one, it only seemed right to do the same activity with him although James joined us, of course.  Sam didn't seem interested in the piggy banks at all really, so James choose the monster truck one for him, and we allowed James to pick out the colors as well.  Then Daddy and Sam started painting the truck...technically Sam mostly just ate his paintbrush...good thing for non-toxic paints while James and I worked on putting hand prints on the grandmother's mugs (mentioned in an earlier post).  Then we switched, and Sam put his hand prints and James took over the painting of the truck.  We were a little concerned that James was going to think the monster truck was now his, but even when we left the ceramic place, James asked "Where's Sam's truck?" and it hasn't caused any problems, so that is nice.

Both piggy banks are proudly displayed on our fireplace mantle, and James loves to add money to them.  I think they are perfect, special little keepsakes of our boys' first birthdays.  Who knows how long they will actually last, but I will enjoy them as long as they do.