Alex is a kid. He loves things to the point of obsession. He will play with one toy for an entire day and not care about his other toys just because he is on a fire truck kick that day.
Also, Alex is kind of a hoarder. He will fill his hands with as many toys as he can carry, to the point of not being able to play with them. He is not doing this in order to stop other kids from taking his toys; he does the same thing when he is playing alone.
He goes through phases of obsession. A few things have lasted the test of time.
1. Airplanes. He has super-hearing when it comes to airplanes; he even hears them when we are inside. If we are outside, he practically tips himself over because he is trying to look straight up in the sky. The obsession with airplanes led to an obsession of trucks, trains, cars, and helicopters.
2. Cheese. All kinds. String, shredded, block, cake -- he likes them all.
3. Animals. It is fitting since his first word was "Rabbit." We have to be careful if we are outside because if one of the neighbors goes by walking their dog, he will follow them down the road happily barking along the way. One day in Ithaca, I stopped at the Cornell Orchards and bought 12 pounds of apples. I said, "That's a lot of apples! Hot dog!" And Alex said, "Woof woof." He can identify and say almost all the every day animal names: zebra, cow, horse, mouse, cat, dog, sheep, fish, bird, elephant, snake, lion, tiger, bear, panda, frog, deer, chicken, hippo, turtle, monkey, pig. Oh yeah, and ant. Ant is an every day animal around our house.
4. Computer. I think every kid is obsessed with computers and phones. He will climb on our computer chair and ask for his song to be turned on. I think we have given that video a million views.
5. Books. He will sit by his bookshelf pulling off one book after another. He knows what is on the next page before I even turn to it. He is totally a bookworm and I am proud of him for that!
3. Animals. It is fitting since his first word was "Rabbit." We have to be careful if we are outside because if one of the neighbors goes by walking their dog, he will follow them down the road happily barking along the way. One day in Ithaca, I stopped at the Cornell Orchards and bought 12 pounds of apples. I said, "That's a lot of apples! Hot dog!" And Alex said, "Woof woof." He can identify and say almost all the every day animal names: zebra, cow, horse, mouse, cat, dog, sheep, fish, bird, elephant, snake, lion, tiger, bear, panda, frog, deer, chicken, hippo, turtle, monkey, pig. Oh yeah, and ant. Ant is an every day animal around our house.
4. Computer. I think every kid is obsessed with computers and phones. He will climb on our computer chair and ask for his song to be turned on. I think we have given that video a million views.
5. Books. He will sit by his bookshelf pulling off one book after another. He knows what is on the next page before I even turn to it. He is totally a bookworm and I am proud of him for that!
6. Fire hydrants. Such a strange thing to love. Sam brought home a toy fire hydrant from one of his school tours and Alex has been obsessed since then.
7. Tractors. In Ithaca, there was a tractor parked on the corner we would frequently drive by and he would always point to it. After a few months of this, one day the tractor was gone. Alex looked out the window for it every day we drove by until we moved away. He knows dump trucks, diggers, tractors, cranes, bulldozers, and steamrollers.
I always love your posts...but, I think I've already told you that. I think the writing to picture ratio you've got going on is perfect...If only I could get my blogging groove back. I think I left in New York...or, somewhere else that I don't know how to find it. At any rate, I love this Obsession post especially because it got me thinking to when you and I used to ride to Fry's and the cashier made a rude comment to us about all the candy we were buying. Silly old kiddie days. Then that reminded me when you spent the night at my house and got stung by a scorpion. Then I also remembered we were playing hockey in your front yard one time and I scored a goal and I was so excited I threw my stick up without thinking and wacked you in the face...I felt SOOOOO bad. Anyway, kids don't know how good they have it! :)
ReplyDeleteBoys will be boys! I love all the pictures. He has such cute facial expressions!
ReplyDeleteSo cute! O loves airplanes too, but doesn't care about any type of ground vehicles at all. We tried to teach him the difference between truck and car and he doesn't even say truck or car! Just airplane ifnthere's a rumble in the sky!
ReplyDeleteAlex is such a darling! I loved being able to see you guys before we left! Thank you so much!