Ever since my first son was born three and a half years ago, I swore I would not push “boy” toys on him. That I would let his interests guide his play.
This is why he likes to watch princesses and has a baby doll. It’s also why he asked for a tea set for Christmas.
But I believe there is an element of “boy” that is just engrained in his DNA.
He carries his baby doll around and declares that he will shoot bad guys with her bottle.
He bakes birthday cakes and makes us “lunch” and begs for Nerf guns.
He gets mesmerized by Minnie’s Bow-tique, but wants to be Batman.
And the thing he loves most? CARS AND TRUCKS!
Every single time a commercial comes on for cars or tracks or trucks he yells, “I WANT THAT!” or “PUT THAT IN MY LETTER TO SANTA!!!”
Because we clearly do not have enough.
Eddie has had this obsession with things with wheels from his first truck—a fire truck that made a ton of racket.
Some of his first words were “truck” and “bus” and “car”. Daddy drove a “cuck” and mommy drove a “caw” and on his way to daycare he saw “coo busses”.
He would grunt and point out everything that moved when we drove down the street. Every semi-truck got a “YOOK, MOM! Dat cuck is HUGE!”
When a child gets a fascination with a certain subject, family and friends are quick to cling to that for gift ideas. And so our home became over-run with all the things that go—much to Eddie’s glee.
In fact, Eddie’s favorite thing to do with his cars and trucks was to make a “parking lot,” which really just meant lining them all up.
There was no daily task to which he couldn’t incorporate the need of a truck or car. Taking a nap? There’s a car for that. Playing outside? There’s a truck for that. Getting his diaper changed? There’s a car for that.
Eating a snack?
You got it. There’s a truck for that.
Now, at the ripe old age of three, he is more into racing them. He wants fast cars and cool trucks.
He loves to be able to build and take apart and change things out. It’s probably why he loves his new Smart Max Power Vehicles Set and Legos and trains so much (other posts completely).
He’s into doing things by himself and showing us his new creations.
And wouldn’t you know it? His baby brother, Charlie has recently taken an interest to things that go too.
I have a feeling that living in this house of boys means cars and trucks underfoot for a few years yet.
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Katie Sluiter is a freelance writer and teacher who should probably be grading papers or changing diapers but is more likely blogging, tweeting, or just overusing social media in general. She chronicles all this on her blog, Sluiter Nation.
