His heart is shaping up nicely

Nathaniel has got his sights set on a Nintendo DSi.

Never mind the fact that he has a PSP that works perfectly well and about 15 games that go with it. The older "school agers" who attend his daycare during the summers with him all have DSis, so a DSi he's decided he must have.

Problem is, we won't buy it for him, even as a Christmas or birthday gift. We feel like he already has an identical item, and we're standing firm that if he wants to replace it, he has to do it by saving his own money. He gets $3 per week in allowance, and his only other source of "income" is the occasional check or cash that he gets from his grandparents or aunts and uncles for his birthday or holidays.

But he's determined. Dedicated. Dependable. (Oh, sorry. I accidentally lapsed into the tagline for our local NBC news team.) He's been saving, and when we gave him $40 to spend at Disney World on whatever he chose, he brought most of it home to put in his piggy bank.

But the other night he ran downstairs after bedtime and found me on the couch with my laptop.

Nathaniel: "Mommy, go to redcross dot org."

Me: "Why?"

Nathaniel: "I want to donate money to Haiti!"

I explained that I'd already sent some money and felt that we'd done what we could, and he said:

"I know that. I want to send some of MY money."

PEOPLE. He melted my heart. Globular puddle right there on the couch.

I went to the Web site and he immediately asked to watch the videos they had posted. I was wary of clicking on them willy-nilly for fear that some of the images might be too graphic, but I let him watch one that was labeled as one of the PSAs that's been airing on TV. Sure enough, he was transfixed and demanded again to send his money.

I explained that the quickest way to do it was to text the word "Haiti" on our cell phone and he could donate $10 immediately. He was all about it. I let him type it.



He read the immediate reply that we received.



He typed "Yes" to let them know he was serious.



And he was pleased as punch when he got the "Thanks" text. Then he got $10 out of his wallet and put it on the kitchen table for Grayson.



I tried hard to keep all this in mind the following day when I picked him up from school only to learn that he'd punched a classmate in the eye for chasing a little girl around the playground. (Grayson and I have different philosophies on retaliation ... he's of the "hit back harder" mindset, whereas I'm all about tattling to the teacher.)

Anyway, I'm focusing on the positive. His heart is full, even though his wallet is a little lighter. It's just like they say on the brilliant Friday Night Lights ... Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.

So right.