February Highlights: Fire Truck Field Trip

      Last week, Mason and I went with Kiwi and her preschool class on a field trip to the fire station.  Since Little Man attended the same preschool Kiwi goes to and Kiwi went with Little Man on his field trips, this is actually Kiwi's fourth field trip to the fire station, so she was a pro at it.  It is always fun to see the inside of the vehicles and station, however, and she was particularly interested this year in the fact that the fireman actually lived at the station for a couple of days at a time.  

      Although Mason came on the field trip last year, he wasn't too interested.  This year was a different story as he took everything in with big eyes.   He loved the inside of the fire station and walked confidently holding Kiwi's hand with all the big kids looking at everything.  When we got into the garage and saw the big trucks, however, he just wanted mommy.  I tried to put him in the truck, but he wasn't having it, so this picture is about as close as he got.  The look on his face pretty accurately captures his mixture of fascination/trepidation about being so close to the huge trucks.  By the end, he started exploring a little more, but never got too close to the trucks.
       I dressed Mason in one of Little Man's old fire chief shirts (Little Man loved firetrucks so much that we did that as his theme for his second birthday).  The fireman who came out to meet us in the lobby was great with kids, got down on their level and talked to them.  When he got to Mason, he pointed to his shirt and told him how much he liked it.  Every time he came close to fireman after that, Mason would point to his shirt and look up at the fireman expectantly.

 Kiwi's class, Mason, Miss Cindy, and the fireman.

     When Mason wasn't attached to me, it was so cute to watch Kiwi take care of him.  Anytime he was walking, she was holding his hand.  She's made up her own nickname of "May May" for him and she kept saying, "Come on May May, Stay with sissie May May" and leading him to everything.  Few things make me happier than seeing my children love and take care of each other.  These moments help balance out the moments that happen at home when she is taking his toys or "accidentally" knocking him down.
     It was a fun morning and although Kiwi loved it, I think it made the biggest impression on Mason.  He is now much more interested in seeing pictures of firetrucks in his books and making siren sounds.  There just something about boys and trucks...