Sharing and Spelling

So one of the Gremlin's favorite places to go is the Barnes and Noble in the Old Orchard mall. This is not because of their expansive literary selection, their readings or other events, or an employee. This Barnes and Noble happens to have a Thomas train table.

The Mother of the Gremlin has an expansive criteria on when to go because the Gremlin is 3, and has decided that he owns every Thomas engine ever. This criteria is: during lunchtime. This is the time at which the train table is least used, so the Gremlin can usually play to his heart's content for about half an hour (the required time for a parent to regain enough energy to fight the Gremlin about leaving).

When the Gremlin arrived, most of the other children had left - there was just a lone straggler who was lining up all the trains in a row, rolling them to the top of the bridge, and then flipping the bridge open, launching the other trains across the table. I liked the kid immediately.

The other child immediately surrendered to the Gremlin his favorite - the Cookie Factory Cargo Pack - and the Gremlin was immediately entertained. A matter of minutes after that, the other child's mom got hungry, and the Gremlin was left with all the trains.

After almost 45 minutes of engine euphoria, another child approached the table, and stared longingly at the 15+ trains the Gremlin hoarded on the opposite end of the table, having seen the approach. The MOTG prompted the Gremlin to share, and - having just saved up an extra 15 minutes of fighting power - was forced to haul the Gremlin off at a decibel level usually reserved for tornado warning systems. In the car, the MOTG tried to talk to the Gremlin about sharing.

"Buddy, you weren't sharing with that boy."
"No momma, I did not want to give him any trains."
"Why not?" The Gremlin shrugged, and the MOTG went on. "Buddy, remember how you felt when you got there and that other boy gave you some trains to play with?"
"Yeah."
"How did you feel about that boy?"
"I thought he was S-T-U-P-I-D."

Well, looks like we can't spell things in front of him anymore...