Time Out Timer

Earlier this summer, my sister and her kids came to stay with us.  They weren't here too long, but in that short time we had a ball.  She has two young kids - a girl and a boy.  The boy is 6, the girl is 9.

We learned a lot about our house and it's ability to handle kids.  It wasn't bad, but we had some things that we have to come to grips with (like NEVER BUY ANYTHING NICE!) now that we're parents.

One day this summer, my sister's son gets in trouble for something usual for boys like running around like a crazy person or eating his beyond messy sandwich on the couch or punching his sister.  As a punishment, his mom puts him in "time out" - which all you parents know about - for 30 minutes.  He couldn't play the Wii or even watch tv.  He had to sit in a chair in his room for the whole time.

Being an ingenious boy, he asked his mom if he could borrow the kitchen timer so he could tell how long he'd been in "time out" (I think he thought his Mom was "gypping" him!).  Off he went with our timer.  Never to be seen again.

After they'd left us for a few days, I got back in the kitchen and started to fix one thing or another and noticed that the timer was gone.  It was a cheap plastic one that I'm not sure we even know where it came from.  But....as cheap and flimsy as it was, it was our kitchen timer and was heavily used.

Nat remembered that my sister's son used the timer so we called them and asked my sister if she'd seen it.  Guess what?  She hadn't.  She presumes it is squirreled away somewhere never to be seen again.

A few weeks later, our door bell rings.  Nat goes out to answer it and sitting by our front door is a bag with this beauty inside of it.

I think it is from Anthropologie - it sure has that look.  My thoughtful sister made us whole again.  Now that we're parents, I'm sure it'll come in handy when the babe wants to keep tabs on her own "time outs".