I have learned more about heavy duty equipment and oversized vehicles in the past two months than in my forty-eight and half years prior to that. I have been swept along by Bentley's passion for cranes, bull-dozers, dump trucks, loaders, scrapers, excavators, snow plows, tractors, combines, big rigs, garbage trucks, fire trucks, school buses, etc.
It started off simply enough with a set of three small board books about construction sites. Bentley has had us read these books on and off for the past year. Then Kara and I added to his collection with a few more vehicle themed books. His passion grew. While I don't totally enjoy reviewing endless photos of large trucks and excavators in sixteen sizes (maybe more), I do enjoy seeing Bentley's enthusiasm for the subject. He's such a boy!
Kara had no interest in construction or farm equipment when she was little. I don't think that's changed, despite Bentley's tutelage. Perhaps Bentley can spark an interest in Genevieve? She likes the wooden train set, although she mostly uses it as chew toy, so I'm not sure it's the train itself that attracts her. I bet that Jackson will like trucks, tractors, and excavators without any prodding. He has that Y chromosome that tends to affect males in this way.
A couple of months ago Matt took Bentley downtown on a Saturday and they saw a fire truck doing a ladder drill. We still hear about that grand event every time we see a photo of a fire truck with a big ladder on it. "DADDY!" is the code word that he utters to remind us that he saw a ladder fire truck with his dad. This unplanned event left a greater lasting impression on him than any cultural event we have carefully scheduled in.
After weeks of looking through picture books of heavy equipment, I'm still pretty lousy at identifying the different vehicles. If Bentley inadvertently puts his hand over the name while holding the book, I'm in trouble. Do all bulldozers have those tracks that go around (treads?) instead of tires? Are all machines with big clawed shovels some type of excavator? (Or bagger as they call them in Europe!) Don't ask me to point out a skid steer or a grader. It isn't going to happen. Bentley, on the other hand, can already identify over a dozen different vehicles. We say the name, he points to it. He doesn't yet say their names, but I've no doubt he soon will.
The past week when he's been on the road with me, he shouts my name whenever he sees a big rig. He doesn't want me to miss out on the thrill of a live sighting. If I don't respond quickly enough, he escalates his volume--he's that excited.
Will Bentley think I'm stupid if I never learn to tell all these different machines apart? Is this how male superiority starts? Little girls don't force their dads to learn odd (and useless) vocabulary lists. With boys, if it's not machines, it's dinosaurs. At one point in her early years, Kara could identify twenty different dinosaurs, but that was more from hard work on my part than true interest on hers.
I have to go now. It's time to study photos of skip loaders, dredges, pavers, pile drivers, and asphalt zippers! I've decided to really impress that grandson of mine during the upcoming summer season of building construction and road repair.
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