Moments with my 3 year old

Warner loves garbage trucks. He practically lives for the day that the garbage man comes to pick up our trash. Our garbage man doesn't always show up at the same time on garbage day, but we can hear his beeps as he makes his way around the surrounding neighborhoods, so that we know when he's getting close to our house. Inevitably, anytime the faint sound waves of that familiar beep beep find their way in our direction, Warner drops whatever he is doing, and runs to the play room window to see if the garbage man has reached our driveway yet. To give a visual, think puppy dog wagging his tail and panting with excitement here.  It's like a Pavlovian response for him. Beep beep. Pause. Thump thump thump thump thump (across the hard wood floor). Sometimes I'm upstairs folding laundry or taking care of the other kids when I hear the beeping, and sometimes I try to time it. Beep beep. "Here we go, and three, two, on"- "thump thump thump thump thump"! Two and a half seconds, that's a new record! Well done little puppy. Well done.

Well, today as we were driving in the car, Warner heard some beeping and quickly located the source of the sound, which, true to his senses, was a big, blue, garbage truck.

"What's he doing?" he asked me. (This is not the first time he has asked me this question).

"Well, the garbage truck has picked up the garbage can with that claw thing there, is now emptying all the garbage into the truck, where it will then be smashed down into really small pieces of trash so that the truck can fit more trash into it" I said, hoping I got all the facts right. 

"Oh" he said rather pensively. Long pause. "I tink he's gunna pick me up and smash me into little,(stutter) little pieces too", he said.

It was a statement, not a question. 

I couldn't believe that he was actually afraid of the garage truck picking him up and smashing him! What a horrifying thought! Is that why he spent so much time obsessing over the garbage truck? Is that why he insists on watching the garbage man until he has completely emptied our garbage and is on his way out of our neighborhood? Was it all just to make sure that the garbage man didn't mistake him for the garbage can; to ensure that his little three year old personage would in fact remain intact, healthy, and un-smashed at the very least?  I spent the next little while convincing Warner that he doesn't need to be afraid of getting scooped up and smashed by a garbage man.  Poor kid.

It just goes to show that you never know what sort of things kids are afraid of. After all, they are just learning the rules and realities or falsities of life, especially three year old's.

Hm.

I wonder what other morbid thoughts are circulating around in Warner's little, scientific noggin.

I took these photos last Sunday after we got home from church. They capture Warner's personality really well.

Silly.
Sweet.
Pensive.
Funny.
Tender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another moment with my three year old. 

"Huwwee! Huwee!" Warner yelled frantically from the back seat in the car today. "Woll down the window"!

"What could he possibly be so excited about?" I thought to myself. I looked to my left as we came to a stop in front of the red light, and noticed Smith Brother's Farms plastic cow sitting atop the roof where it always is. My kids like to point it out every week as we drive past it on our way home from violin lessons and laugh. "That must be what he wants to see", I thought as I rolled down his window. 

"Ca Ka! Ca Ka! Ca KAAAAAA!" he yelled. "Ca Kah! Ca KAAAAAHH!" he shrieked. It only took a millisecond for the birds fight or flight response to kick in, and I watched as a whole tree-full of crows escaped for the heavens, leaving behind what they once thought was a peaceful little perch of refuge.

"Ca Ka! Ca Ka!" they shrieked back at him. 

I looked in my rear view mirror just in time to see Warner smile contentedly. 

I guess I was wrong about the cow.