Ever since my baby boy could peek out the window, he has been in awe of the garbage man. In our Kentucky condo, he had a picture-window view of the dumpster corrals. The minute he heard the garbage trucks (usually when they were still streets away), he’d watch outside for the man in the bright green shirt to get out if the truck, open the door to the corral, roll the dumpster out, get in his truck to dump it, then put it back. When Daddy came home, our little would-be garbage man loved to ride horsie-style on Dad's back, going around the house emptying imaginary dumpsters and pushing them in and out of invisible corrals.
He never really grew out of the garbage fetish (much to his mother’s chagrin). He still thinks it is fun to watch the garbage truck roll through the neighborhood, lifting and dumping and crushing the mucky trash. He has a garbage truck toy that he often plays with, but even more often I’ll find him playing with boxes or baskets, turning them into garbage trucks while toys, clothes or other household items become his garbage.
From his window seat on our flight this past weekend, Dal had a perfect view of the baggage handlers loading the suitcases into the belly of the plane. A new career aspiration was born! I can appreciate the transition: the concept is similar to that of a ‘sanitation engineer’, what with all the driving, loading and unloading. Luggage, however, is slightly less stinky.
When we returned home I emptied out the suitcases, and my 5-year-old would-be luggage handler spent the rest of the day filling them up, pushing them around the house and loading them onto the ‘plane.’ He even threw in a stint as the flight attendant, for good measure, “to make sure everyone has their snack and their drink.”
Maybe one day he’ll aspire to be a dentist like Daddy, but for now, it is all about loading…. garbage and luggage.
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7 comments:
We could sure use someone like him around here- at least "to make sure everyone has their snack and their drink!" Snack-time around here is a full-time job.
Always love reading what you write! Hope things are going well for all of you:)
You'll have to look for the books "Trashy Town" by Andrea Zimmerman, David Clemesha, and Dan Yaccarino and "I Stink!" by Kate Mcmullan and Jim Mcmullan. They are our favorite garbage man books.
He's all boy!!! You should definitely encourage the luggage career over garbage. At least it will get you free flights!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha! I posted a post with the exact same title yesterday.... After watching the garbage get picked up behind our house Bryson proclaimed, "When I grow up, I want to be a garbage man!" Just what every mom wants to hear.
What is it about watching the garbage man? I remember a small group of children, me included, following the truck down the sidewalk a few houses just fascinated. And way back then, it was not an automatic arm that grabbed the can and lifted it way up in the air. Two men rode on the back of the truck, jumped off before it came to a complete stop, removed the lid, emptied the can, replaced the lid, and hopped back on the truck. Maybe it looked like fun to ride on the back of a moving vehicle. Why is it so fascinating?
I love the imagination of children. I've always found it fascinating to see what kids think of. Congrats, by the way, on the news of your little baby boy. Do you have a name? I could use some help for our little guy.
Whatever makes that Dallin happy! He'll be great at whatever he does.
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