Wednesday, August 19, 2009

machines everywhere!

T loves (loves, loves) construction machines. And trucks, trains and dinosaurs but mostly construction machines. Concrete pouring trucks, cranes, earthmovers, dumptrucks, quarry trucks, pumper trucks (for concrete), and backhoes. Backhoes! When we go to the "libarry" he heads right for the truck section. We've taken most of their kids truck books out but several have come home with us several times. Each book must be carefully scrutinized from his seat on the library floor before the book is deemed acceptable to take home. Anything with a digger, backhoe or monster truck wheels usually passes muster.

We have a large selection of our own truck books plus a variety of trucks at home, in a variety of sizes as well. Some are assigned to the sandbox, others are for the beach and still others are for the park. Some are to be shared with friends and get taken to the park or daycare. Others are chosen to come for rides in the car when we got out - visiting, grocery shopping, etc - all have different truck requirements. We have a couple of 18 wheelers that end up carrying a variety of things as do the big Tonka quarry truck (it has no gate so it isn't a dump truck - it's a quarry truck) which is loaded by the Tonka Scoop. Right now most toys that aren't trucks usually end up in the quarry truck as cargo - as well as other things like books, kitchen utensils, toilet paper (unrolled from the rolls and scrunched up to make mountains), etc.

I've heard that you learn a lot from your children. I certainly have an expanded knowledge of types of dinosaurs for example but I have to say my knowledge of trucks and construction equipment has blossomed beyond my wildest imagining (not that I thought about it much prior to T). I guess the thing I notice the most is all the trucks and machines around. Did I just not see all these things before? There are backhoes, low loaders, garbage trucks, dump trucks, cranes, etc everywhere and before T there were just background. Barely noticed except when they caused an issue - traffic jam, detour, etc but I didn't really look at the details. What colour is that backhoe? What make? Does it have wheels or treads? Is the bucket one piece or is it a claw bucket? Are the stabilizers in use? I wonder what else T will teach me to see.

Last Sunday I spent a few minutes hosing sand off of a variety of toy trucks - the sandbox got a bit swamped in last weeks rain as the lid wasn't closed completely and some of the trucks got muddy. So here are the results of mummy's truck wash.

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