drew's lost skylander with a moral to the story!

Drew is still really into Skylanders.  One (or two or three or more) comes with us wherever we go and sometimes it is quite frustrating because they are really distracting to him and a few have even been broken...but he loves them and values them so we try to just deal with it haha!

Last Monday was a pretty, sunny day so we decided to go to the park.  Naturally, he brought one with him.  I tried to persuade him not to but he insisted, so Gear Shift tagged along.  He played with her on the slide and climbed around with her for a while but then wanted to put her in the diaper bag.  Not deep down inside the diaper bag but propped up on my sunglasses case so she could "watch" him play.
At one point, we moved to another area of the park so I grabbed our things, putting them in a new spot.  We played for a while, stopped at the grocery store and then headed home.  After lunch he ran to the diaper bag to get her but she was gone.  We looked in the car but no Gear Shift.  I asked if he thought he left her at the store and he said no and that she must be at the park.  Initially, I was frustrated and wanted to say "oh, well, you weren't careful and now she's lost" and leave it at that.   But I remembered a story we had read in The Friend about a girl who lost her bracelet and decided to use it as a teaching moment.  I didn't mention it to him, I just figured this could be a good way to teach responsibility.  I was sure we'd never see Gear Shift again.  We loaded back up in the car and drove back to the park.  He and I got out and looked around for it but didn't see it.  Then a little boy ran up to me and said "ma'am, are you looking for this?" and handed Gear Shift to me!  I said, "Drew, look!  He found her!"  Drew was so grateful and told the boy thank you, then I made eye-contact with his mom who said he had just run up to her saying "mom!  Look what I found!"  But she encouraged to him hold on to it incase the owner came looking.  I honestly could not believe that skylander was still there, it had been a few hours since we had been at the park.  Drew told the mother thank-you, as did I, and we walked back to the car.  Then he looked at me a said "Mom!  It is JUST like the story!"  I said, "what story?" and he said, "the one from The Friend!"
I was immediately grateful that I had driven him back to find her.  Aside from him learning that when we lose something valuable to us, we should make an effort to look for it and take care of it, but he was also able to relate it to a story we had learned through reading materials put out by the church. He also learned a little more about gratitude that day.  He said, "that boy must be so good!"  It was a pretty sweet moment.
When he was buckling back into his carseat, he said, "and the moral of the story is we shouldn't bring toys with us when we go places, in case they get lost."  I agreed and then he added, "well, unless we are going to get icees, because then we don't get out of the car!"  Ok so that makes sense!  (the gas station by our house has a drive-thru).
Anyway, it was just one of those times when going through all the trouble felt like it paid off.  I think often, much of what we do as parents pays off in the long run but it isn't usually apparent right then.  I was thankful for that learning experience, for both of us, and it brought us closer in a way.  He has related the story a few times since it happened, which was just a few days ago, but I think it really resonated with I'm, which makes me heart just want to burst!  He's a pretty cute and thoughtful kid and I am super grateful for him!