As most 2-year-olds are, Lukas is obsessed with how things operate. Mrs. LIAYF or I can't pull out our computers, i-pods, or other electronic devices without our son crawling all over us wanting to try them out by pressing and poking every button or dial that they posses.-
It's the way he processes how these devices operate. What they pay out, as it were.
So it came as little surprise to me Saturday morning when, upon seeing a candy vending machine laden with selection buttons at our local community center, Lukas sprinted over to it and started to press the buttons. In truth, he looked as if he had purpose while doing so. It was not unlike some scene from a technological thriller where the protagonist is tasked with cracking a secret code as a timer quickly ticks down towards zero and our ultimate demise.
However, once I approached to shepard him along to our intended destination, he stopped pressing buttons and instead reached his hand into the coin return slot.
And pulled out 2 shiny quarters!
Excited at his payout, Lukas then implored me to lift him up so that he could drop the quarters into the money slot of the machine. Once he had done this, I lowered him back to the floor where he peered once again into the coin return. Not wanting to disappoint my son, I surreptitiously pulled the coin return lever.
Down dropped not 2, but 3 quarters!!
At that point Mrs. LIAYF came along and reminded us that to keep on schedule we needed to get going. As we walked in the sunshine back towards our car, Lukas stopped more than once and mentioned that he wanted to go back to the machine and "Get some more money!", which brought a predictable chuckle and "If only" response, from his mother and I.
Then today, during our first outing with our son to the local bowling alley, as we were finishing up and getting ready to leave, Lukas spotted a drink vending machine tucked away against a lonely far wall and sprinted towards it. Mrs. LIAYF followed him as I payed little attention while I busied myself gathering our belongings off the bench.
Not a minute later, as I was almost fully loaded with our gear, something shiny caught my eye. It was my son, with a huge smile on his face, holding a quarter up in his outstretched hand. "Look what I found Daddy!" he exclaimed.
I smiled, patted his head, and told him "We may be on to something big here, son."
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You can look for us coming soon to a vending machine near you.
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14 comments:
Wow - I thought those things just STOLE money! :) I better get Hannah checking ours out soon.
I think those were the two quarters I lost last week :)
Is your son a Leprechaun?
Maybe that's his secret power? You are so lucky.
Genius. I hereby claim the rights to the UK franchise of this business opportunity. I shall start training my daughter immediately.
Reminds me of a newspaper vending machine at my high school bus stop: if you pressed the coin return hard and fast enough, a quarter would roll out. I forget how many dollars I got out of that machine.
He's so cute! As a kid I always checked phone booths for change, and I found a lot. As an adult, I once found $20 in the parking-payment machine at the casino in Halifax, which is especially funny since I don't gamble and was there with my in-laws, who liked the buffet. I joked about winning more at the parking machine than in the casino.
Lukas is a smart cookie.
Maybe you and I should go into business with our two little guys. Jacob pulled $1.00 out of a kiddie ride at the outlet mall yesterday!!!! He got two free rides out of it, and I got to keep my sanity!!!
Sounds like more than a coincidence. Maybe he can communicate with the machines. That could be a nice pet to have.
I bet your little one was surprised.
I am ashamed to admit this, but my 9 year old snoopes around vending machines and on the floors of stores everywhere we go.
He has gotten very good at it. Over the last 16 months or so, he has brought home $58 in change.
@Mighty M - Maybe they don't steal them, they just wormhole them to another machine...
@PJ - See above. Stop by and I will give you your 50 cents back.
@DC Urban Dad - I want a pot of gold, not a little bit of silver.
@Captain - If so, I'm taking him to Vegas soon.
@Steve - You got it man. I think Asia is already taken, but Europe is wide open.
@Scifi - I wish I had a machine like that growing up. I always just lost $.
@Knatolee - I am a terrible gambler too. I found $50 in a parking lot once and it still remains my biggest payout.
@Being Us - Wow, so it's not only my little guy with this super power. Ok, we get this side of the Mississippi.
@Otter - yeah, like that kid on Heros. That would be cool.
@Slamdunk - Wow, that kid would make a great grifter someday. lol.
Take him to an ATM machine, STAT!
There you go, you've got a money making scheme. We get 10 cents on bottles and cans and I've already got the older boy picking up trash that we can convert to coin.
There you go, you've got a money making scheme. We get 10 cents on bottles and cans and I've already got the older boy picking up trash that we can convert to coin.
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