Nov
8
It’s fascinating to see how little kids latch on to, then ultimately discard, certain toys or types of play. Most Areas of Interest among the pint-sized members of our household seem to have a situational shelf life. Transformers, for instance, were something I thought Riley would be dragging around until his college years, but the moment his Transformers-obsessed friend at daycare left the school Riley forgot all about his robotic buddies and they sifted to the sorry pile of forgotten detritus at the bottom of the toy box. Which is a little sad in a Toy Story way, I suppose, but frankly I was glad to see the back end of those maddening plastic Made in China crap-chunks since he was constantly asking for help in order to switch a guy from a truck into a blender or whatever and considering my spacial relations/engineering skills those requests were pretty much on par with “Can you just translate this Cyrillic real quick and then maybe do some partial differential equations?”
Legos, much to the dismay of my vacuum cleaner and the soles of my feet, seem to be a long-standing thing for Riley, and god knows he shows no sign of ever being sick of making those irritating pshew pshew pshew sounds as he runs around shooting invisible elk, but everything else interest-wise seems to ebb and flow. Today it might be volcanoes, tomorrow it’ll be rockets, next Tuesday it’ll be something else entirely.
I try and remind myself of this fact so I don’t give in too much to whatever his current Thing might be (the broken-limbed abandoned Transformers are a good reminder, after all) but sometimes I kind of can’t help it. My brain knows that right now he loves pretending to be a veterinarian so it’s a good time to talk about it and use it as a school subject at home and maybe arrange for a tour through a vet office, but it would be silly—RIDICULOUS—to go to Toys R Us and buy an overpriced veterinarian costume, since it’s surely just going to be stored away, unloved, in a closet after a week or two.
Oh, but still.
What’reyougonnado.
(PS: I feel I must make mention of how Dylan, in stark comparison, has One True Love That Has Never Died. A romantic, that one.)
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I know it’s a bit of a drive, but the children’s museum in Everett (the Imagine Museum) has a whole vet clinic set-up, if you really want to blow his mind. There is also a farm, with a giant horse, just so all your bases are covered.
Is that a little Guinea-pig-sized bedpan in Dr. Veterinarian’s pocket?
Keep that photo for when he becomes a real veterinarian – then he can put it up on his office wall
Too cute – both the pictures and the video! OMG the look on Dylan’s face is priceless!!
That is too cute!!
Eric goes back to stuff. When he was real little he was totally into Star Wars, then he wasn’t, now he is obsessed again. Thank god he was never really into Transformers.
And this is how children learn. I used to do the same thing, especially with Halloween costumes, but I’d buy them with ‘room to grow’ so they could wear them longer. Although I don’t think too many vets go elk hunting. Not sure how they’d feel about saving animals one day and shooting them the next. I LOVE how you set up his doctor’s office!
This is just lovely. :)
Riley is so lucky to have a mom like you. Sometimes I hate when my sons beg for new toys (trucks, cars, planes), but every once in a while when I see that sparkle in their eyes and can tell they really are showing an interest in something else I give in. It’s how they learn and seeing them take in that knowledge is priceless.
And you’re creative to boot! I’ll admit I’ve entertained my boys with several ideas borrowed from your blog (taping the floor, hiding the moose to hunt, etc).
I have a horse obsessed 18 month old who might just be getting this for Christmas http://www.hearthsong.com/Sit%2DOn%2DPinto%2DHorse_p2509.html :)
OMG. The video of Dylan = priceless.
OMG!! The look on Dylans face was adorable!! Riley looks so cute in his vet outfit!!
Maybe the good news is that if Dylan is still into horses when he’s a bit bigger (the closest to a sure thing I’ve seen in awhile), the vet outfit may get a second life since horses need a vet.
The video is fantastic. True love if I’ve ever seen it.
Lego toys, while maddening to clean up, are so versatile and require imagination so I’m good with the occasional foot arch lego imprint too.
I love that video. It made me laugh so hard I cried. That’s how my boy (2-1/2 years) is with cars & trucks.
Excellent music selection, too.
Watch The Black Stallion with him, too. That will give him his own version of what JB had with regard to the table during the Lauer-Bus interview, according to your piffle. (I can’t bear to write what that THING would be).
Beautiful horse on island? Stunning videography? Race horses? Just watch out for the first 15 or so minutes, the boat sinking is a little scary.
AND. If Riley’s a vet, Dylan can keep horses and all will be right with the world.
You’re such a good mama :)
I wish my Mom had encouraged me to dream and showed this much interest in the things I liked – even when I was only four or five. Riley will treasure the memories you are making.
Awesome! I think it is great that Riley has varied interests, and who knows what Dylan will like as he gets to that age?
However, Dylan is just like my kid and Cookie Monster/all things Sesame Street. We’re easily paying someone’s salary at Sesame Workshop with the amount of stuff we have!
I’m sorry to tell you but the Lego addiction and the gun sounds don’t ever stop. I have an 8 year old who shows no sign of letting up. We shoot zombies and storm troopers in our house, not elk. Although they ARE tasty. The elk, that is.
When my son was just learning to read, the Goosebumps series was popular and we had every single flipping Goosebumps book published. Also: Pokemon cards, in the 90’s. I think they came back recently but thankfully, at age 22, he hasn’t asked for those again! He seemed to move from favorite obsession to the next favorite obsession. My daughter, however, stuck firmly with her daycare kids (aka any available stuffed animal or doll she could find) throughout her childhood. It will be interesting to see if Dylan is as consistent with his horses.
LOVE the vet costume! Love that you would go out and buy it for him and transform a play area for him. :) My daughter has decided on zookeeping over vet school because she couldn’t handle putting animals to sleep, ever, she says. She’s clung to that career plan for about six years. If it hangs on another six or so, it might actually happen, who knows. :)
Thank you for reposting the video; I needed a good laugh. I love that version of *Black Beauty*. Anything annoying about it (the silly faces the horses make, for example) is outweighed by the gorgeous, gorgeous horse footage. And I second the *Black Stallion* recommendation. Take the Black Beauty loveliness and have it directed by Francis Ford Coppola and wow, suddenly it’s a horse movie that I don’t have to pretend is on for my daughter’s sake. I actually get choked up at the sheer gorgeousness of some of the beach scenes in that one.
Kate: I have a fourteen-year-old and a forty-year-old (um, husband) and I can verify your statement re: the gun sounds and the Legos.
Oh but he’s so HAPPY. And he’s learning which is an added bonus. Yeah Riley!
Seriously the other day I was thinking about Dylan and if he was still obsessed with HORSE! or not. Glad to see the flame still burns bright.
We have this exact get up…she loves it.
Yeah… financially speaking, you might want to insist that he give the vet thing a little more serious thought.
Transformers are a dime a dozen and usually end up waiting tables or driving cab but Vets…
Too. Cute!!
Your kids are just way too damned cute. Vet Riley? Awesome. Horse obsessed Dylan? Ditto. He didn’t even blink! So cute!
My mom had an awesome solution to the Lego problem: she took a bedsheet and cut it to a manageable square for small children. All Legos were played on the sheet and when it was time to clean up, we picked up the corners of the sheet and dropped the whole mess in the bucket. To take out the Legos again, just pick up the sheet corners! Genius.
I love this. My 2 year old has a few dear loves and he rotates them occassionally. All he did all day long for most of 2010 was play hockey and watch hockey. Occassionally he’d be transfixed by classical music and their instruments. Recently he’s added trains to the discussion (thanks to very very forceful prodding from a gramma who would prefer more sedentary activies). So three things that rotate. So interesting to see what sticks and what doesn’t. I dread a transformer or Cars phase. I just can’t do it.
LOVE IT!! Just don’t encourage it too much…vet school cost as much as med school and you don’t make as much once you get out…I’ve worked in vets offices, I know these things ;)
But still, love it!!
I rarely comment, but oh my gosh he is too adorable in that costume to not tell you. Which of course you already know.
Haha! The video is hilarious!!
Hey! I totally would have sent you a whole KIT of veterinary stuff! Including a working stethoscope! I made kits of stuff for every kid in Camerons class…still have extras…want one?
We have that same vet outfit and have had it for 3yrs. My girls still wear it and play veterinarian. It was a great investment for us, I bet it will be for you too!
Dylan is so sweet! I hope you have his riding lessons all pre booked for about 2 years time. If you lived on our side of the world I’d let him have a visit and a ride on our horses any time. What a cutie. PS And like my mother always used to say, horse riding is a hell of a lot cheaper than therapy for teenagers.
My husband is a retired veterinarian who was lucky enough to have had his own clinics. He still “works” in his dreams while he sleeps. He loved every day of his over 30 years as a vet and can’t recommend it enough to curious little guys and gals. You and JB are a fantastic inspiration to me with your creativity and adventures and I love, love, love that you are parents. Our world needs more of you!!
You must be really busy this last few weeks. I am going through withdrawal without your frequent posts!!
Love these photos. So sweet. You work hard to make things creative for those boys.
THAT’S ADORABLE! And I don’t know if you guys have anything like it, but my boys are just finishing up a Messy Scientist class at a place called Art Beast here in Sac. It’s a hands on arts and interactive funfest.
Great upgrade towards the infographic, John! Your due diligence is usually significantly valued and share people SEMs a new fighting chance against the wrong details surrounding the website which will get was terrible straight into G.p..
what a clever title! As someone interested in health and wellness, I’m intrigued to see what insights they have to offer. Can’t wait to explore their content and learn something new. Thanks for the invite, Leo Toy Store!