Doing things my way

Every year, we try to go to one of the "Truck Touch" events in our area, where kids can climb on all the cool  public service/ construction trucks and fulfill their life long dream of sitting in the driver seat, honking the horn and even turning on the sirens-- it's pretty serious stuff.

And every year, I tell myself: "This was fun, but next year, when Niall is a little older, he is going to be so all over this!"-- and then he's not.  For a kid who yells out "Trucks!" in the midst of a deep sleep, he seemed pretty disinterested at what should be a young boy's heaven on earth.  But that's Niall for you; he has to warm up to things and do them on his terms.

So when I scanned the area and picked what I thought was pretty obviously the coolest thing there, he just shrugged his shoulders and continued to walk past it...

Ok, round 2.  How about the vacuum truck that sucks up all the leaves off the street?  This guy will let you put a bag under the sucker and let you slurp it up!!

Meh, not really.

Ok, Round 3.  How about looking around the back of the giant grocery truck?  How cool is that?!

Nope, not cool at all.  Pretty lame, actually.  Well if there's one thing I've learned about Niall, it's DON'T PUSH HIM.  And when choosing my battles, this is certainly not one I'm going to engage in or waste my time with.

But interesting things start to happen when I give him his space.

As soon as Matt and I started doing things on our own, Mr. Couldn't Care Less suddenly became interested.

When Dad got in the truck to drive, he got in the bucket.

As long as it was his idea-- "Nope, I don't want to drive, I just want to sit in here"...

Then, suddenly, the driver seat seemed a little more appealing.

And then he became interested in making sure we knew the correct terminology for all the trucks and their parts...

Until even the back of that grocery truck seemed worth taking a look at...

This kid never ceases to amaze me with his selection of "favorites."  By the end of the day, the vehicle that he deemed the most fun.... not the bomb squad, not any of the construction trucks, not the vacuum sucker upper.... but, drum roll please.... the metro bus.

My Stubborn Egg.