$11.52

That's the total sales from DuckyBoy's first lemonade stand!

He's wanted to do this for 2 years now, and until now I've only been able to mount a half-hearted effort to do it with him; he's just been too little for me to enjoy taking the neighbor's cash for something I did all the work on.

This time though, once Daddy's persuasive reasons NOT to have the sale IN the elevator were listened to and the sale could proceed outside, DuckyBoy poured in all ingredients and mixed and tasted the product. Downstairs, he brought in his own sales, poured and took the cash.

He wrote 2 signs all by himself; 25 [and then picture a backwards cents sign] or 10 [another backwards cents sign]. He asked me to write "Lemonade" on another piece of paper, and then he decorated it with pictures of cups and even wavy lines to show the liquid inside.

He didn't have to make much change, though; anybody had this experience? Almost nobody wants to get their change! He tried really hard to give the first customer change, and after that you could almost see him thinking, "OK, I just take the money and pour the drink!" It was hard for him to know when someone did want change -- the signals are pretty subtle.

My favorite part was watching him spot someone crossing the street and saying, "Here come more customers!" He couldn't imagine they wouldn't want some... what an attitude to have, you know? No fear. As his dad says, "He thinks he's offering the best thing in the world." And right then, he was.

When they got close enough he'd run up to them and say, "Would you like some lemonade?" and almost no one could say no. It's nice to be cute! LOL. He did well when a few people said no, which is a big deal for him. He offered free knock-knock jokes (we had the book because I thought we might need something to do in case of a lull) and free flower petals -- the crabapple trees in front of the building are losing their flowers and the petals pile up like snowdrifts, lots of fun to throw around.

All in all, we're proud of our little entrepreneur.