Aiden finds his calling

Yesterday Aiden came home from school full of news about the school fundraiser. I was less than thrilled. I do not enjoy having kids knock on my door asking me to support a school my child does not attend. Nor do I enjoy looking through a magazine full of overpriced 'do dads' while a child looks on as I try to find the cheapest, most useful item in the book. I wasn't about to put our neighbors and friends through it. Jason and I agreed that we would buy a few little things and call it done. Aiden had other plans. He came home from school again today talking about the fundraiser (darn those teachers! lol) He informed me that he needed to sell "100 things!". Oh my. He pestered me and pestered me. "Mom, we can ask all my friends." "Honey, all your friends go to your school and they are trying to sell the same stuff." "But Mom, they will want to buy it from me!" I wish I had his confidence. "How about Miss Michelle mom? How about Mr. Bob? He is our neighbor." (the teacher must have mentioned going to the neighbors, again, darn teachers!) I read where you can buy stuff online for out of state relatives. So I said "Aiden how about we call some family and tell them about it online?" My plan was to call the family members first, brief them to just listen to his spiel and let them know they did not need to buy anything, Jason and I were going to buy a few things. That way he could think he was selling a few things, but he wouldn't really know that they didn't actually buy them. Sneaky I know. :) I refuse to make people fell obligated. So his first call was to Grandmom Jeanie. She wasn't home so he left a message. Next Aunt Chelly. "Aunt Chelly, you want to buy something from my fundraiser?" "Sure!" says Aunt Chelly already having been briefed by me. Aiden whispers to me "See, I told you mom." Next he says "I have to call MomMom, cause she is my first grandmom." Not really sure what that means. Anyway, we call. No answer. He leaves this message "This is Aiden, call me back....fundraiser" giggle, giggle. He hands me back the phone and says "How about my Uncle Ryan?" Ryan I am sure you want some wrapping paper, right? I talked him out of calling Ryan, letting him know that usually boys don't need these types of things. Finally I distracted him and thought we were off the subject and good to go. A little later he comes to me and says he needs to make more phone calls. So I tell him he can try MomMom again. This time Aimee answers. "Hey Aimee, want to buy something for my fundraiser?" Aimee, "I don't know Aiden I'll have to talk to MomMom." Aiden "Can I talk to Josh?" Josh gets on the phone. You can guess the question by now. Josh "Well... I only have like $3." Aiden then asks to talk to Lindsey. "Lindsey, want to buy something from my fundraiser?" Lindsey "What is a fundraiser?" This is the first time he has been asked this question - "Wait Lindsey....Hey MOM! What is a fundraiser?" With Lindsey she seems a little more open so Aiden gets out the catalog and starts naming just about everything in the book. "You can get presents, some flowers, a snowman light thingy, some balls that stick together, chips, a holder upper thingy....do you have a real phone? "No" says Lindsey "ok, pencils, let's see what else, jewelery... Lindsey stops him there. "How much?" she asks "I have $6, but I was going to give it to charity." "What!, says Aiden, you can use it for my fundraiser!" Lindsey "Well, I have a really big quarter." Aiden "MOM! Is there anything in here for a really big quarter?" It is time for dinner so I tell him he has to go. He tries to convince me that he can still tell Lindsey about his fundraiser while he is eating, but I crush him by telling him no. At dinner I let them know that after bath we can play a little while, then it is books and bed. Aiden has not forgotten about selling for his school. "But, Mom, I have to call people." We still have not talked to MomMom, so I tell him he can call her after his bath. Which of course he does. "Hi MomMom, want to buy something from my fundraiser...." He goes on to name everything in the book, again all 46 pages of it. After he is finally through my mom tells him she will look at it online and put his name in. He says "Ok, don't forget it is A-i-d-e-n. - a lot more chatter -Can I talk to Sarah now?" Poor Sarah gets the whole rundown. But this time he is asking with each page how much money she has. He thinks that the page numbers are the prices so he starts by saying "Do you have $6?" Sarah "Yes" "Well you can buy a sneeze box! You know how you get tissue when you blow your nose?" He goes on like this in great detail until page 27 when I let him know it is bedtime and the battery dies in our phone. He informs me that selling things is not hard at all (I told him that it would not be easy to sell things). "That was not hard at all Mom, with a wave of his hand, I already sold 6 things!" Then he names Grandmom Jeanie, mom, Aimee, Josh, Lindsey and Sarah. He went to sleep tonight with his prize catalog under his pillow.


I caught a little bit of his sales pitch on video. I had to split it in to two different videos....




***Edit***
This morning he was trying to sell to Kyle and Ryleigh. "Kyle do you want to buy something for my fundraiser?" Kyle "Yeah" "Ok, how about a Christmas bowl that sticks together?" Kyle "Yeah!" "Well, it is $6, do you have $6?" Kyle "No" Aiden "Mom, can you give Kyle $6 so he can buy the Christmas bowl that sticks together?" Then he started in on Ryleigh.