More Power

Do you remember watching the show Home Improvement with "Tim, the toolman Taylor"? We watched it a lot when I was growing up. My husband seems to be related somehow, not literally, but in the everything-has-to-have-more-power kind of way. He doesn't break stuff like Tim, but he insists that everything that has any kind of motor or power behind it has the capability of running faster or more powerful. It apparently is starting to rub off on Ethan.

Ethan has been and continues to be infatuated with becoming more like his dad. I think this is pretty typical for most boys. But, he is obsessed with it. And he is certain that he can do anything his daddy does - and promptly tries to repeat any and all things he's seen him do. This can be super adorable to watch, but painfully heartbreaking when your son is devastated that his leaf blower doesn't really blow, or that his chainsaw doesn't really cut the tree, or his lawnmower isn't really cutting the grass. And when I say devastated, I mean out right down on the ground bawling because his stuff is "broke".

The other day we had another one of those moments. There were 3 leaves on the edge of the driveway. Ethan said, "wait here, mom, I gotta get something outta the garage." Seconds later, he was back with his safety goggles on and had his leaf blower in hand. He promptly began trying to clean up the leaves. When we first bought this for him, he would have played for 20 minutes perfectly happy pretending to blow the leaves - but not anymore. He tried and tried and then threw the leaf blower on the ground, ripped off his goggles and fell to the ground in a rage. I knew it was coming. It's been happening a lot lately and I'm not sure there is much I can do for him other than let him learn first-hand he's just not as big as his daddy and he can't have the real thing..yet. A word no 4-yr old wants to hear (heck, does anyone like to wait for what they want?!?)

Daddy quickly came to the scene and asked what was wrong. I explained it to him and he said "oh." And then he got that look in his eye. The one he always gets when he hates seeing his boy cry so he's gonna do something about it.

He came back, and picked up the leaf blower and took it back in the garage. Ethan asked what he was doing and he told him "he had an idea." Ethan's eyes got big like quarters and you could see the excitement - because he knew it was going to be an idea meant for to "fix" his leaf blower.

5 minutes later, the Home Depot leaf blower we purchased at Toys R Us was completely dismantled, and daddy had the Dremel out making the hole BIGGER, and then he removed a few parts he thought might restrict airflow, and then he put it all back together and handed it to Ethan and said "now try."

Much to Ethan's dismay, it still didn't blow as hard as the gas-powered one daddy has, so it wasn't a total success. But Ethan seemed satisfied that they had tried and had fun watching daddy use tools.

I am constantly amazed at how differently boys think and I love to watch their creative juices flow. While this project didn't turn out the way they had hoped, it was still a memorable bonding moment for which I am thankful I got to witness.

There's that look I was telling you about..