"Now I know Riley's ABC's..."

So, remember in the post about Riley's birthday that he has a "special relationship" with the letter A?  Well the other day I was writing an email, and it was slightly lengthy..  Well, Riley walked up to the computer and started studying the screen.  Then he looks at me and as proud as punch said 

"It's OK mom, you can borrow my A's"

I started giggling because that's so typical.  He truly believes that A's belong to him.  All of them.  A's on the TV, A's in the mail, A's in grocery stores.. He just lets us all use them out of the kindness of his little heart.

I was imagining Riley in Kindergarten when his teacher begins the lesson on A's...

What if he's in a "mood" that day and doesn't decide to grant her permission to use them?

Oh man...

I was thinking really hard about where he could have gotten the idea that they are HIS.

I thought back to when I taught him the letter A.  It was the first letter I had taught him.  We drew A's whenever we got the chance and I'd cheer and cheer for him.  His A's got progressively nicer and as he had mastered them more and more he would also get progressively more proud of them.  I would take him on walks and we'd find all the A's we could outside on mailboxes and license plates.  The letter A was like his little introduction from "Toddler hood" to being a "Big Boy".

But for the life of me, I could never remember a point in time when I had even sort of declared all those A's the sole property of Riley.

And then it hit me.

I totally had.

Everyday for the last year.  Hundreds upon hundreds of times I gave him that idea.

"Now I know my ABC's.. Next time won't you sing with me?"

"Now I know MY ABC's"

"MY ABC'S"

So I looked at Riley and sang "Now I know my ABC's.. Next time won't you sing with me?"

Of course that got his full attention.

Then I asked him "Are they my ABC's Riley?"

"Nope. They're mine."

Case closed.