garbage truck!

Ryan loves anything that has to do with cars, trucks, airplanes and just about anything else boy-ish.  If you happen to have him in the back seat when you drive around town, you will have a conversation with him such as this one:

Ryan:  Look a big truck!

Ryan:  Look a big truck!

Ryan:  Look a big truck!

And he will continue to repeat that same phrase until you say:  Yes, a big truck!

And then he will say:

Ryan:  Look a car!

And on and on it goes.

He has learned a few new words in the past couple of weeks.  Tony taught him "crane" so now any tractor type of vehicle with an arm is a crane.  The other new vehicle word is "garbage truck." 

Actually, his fascination with garbage trucks has been going on for months now but up until this week he didn't know the entire phrase.  It was just another "truck."  But this week, we have moved on to the full expression:  garbage truck! (and yes, it is always said with at least one exclamation point!).  Every Wednesday morning Ryan hears the local garbage truck and he runs to the door and yells and pleads to go see it.  So we sit on the front driveway and watch the garbage truck go down the street until we can't see it any more and then he waves bye-bye to the truck.  Last Wednesday as we sat watching the garbage truck, I thought that his fascination with garbage trucks wouldn't last much longer.

I was wrong.

Did you know that there are videos of garbage trucks on YouTube?  Lots of them.  There are front loaders, Heil Side Loaders, and a host of other models.  You can watch video after video of garbage trucks going up and down streets, picking up America's trash.  Apparently lots of people watch them and now my son is among them.

 

I wonder if I should be concerned about this obsession.  And I am not exaggerating one bit when I say obsession.  It is his first word when he wakes up, it is his first word when he walks in the door after daycare, it is his first word when he's done eating.

I have to admit, there is something strangely cathartic about watching these videos.  The arms stretching out and grabbing the cans and then lifting them into the air.  I never knew there were so many different models.  I've also watched many a garbage man have to get out of his cab and move the cans so there is enough distance between them for the arm to grab.  It makes me rethink my garbage can courtesy.

If you're curiousity is piqued, wander over to YouTube and search for "garbage truck."  It's likely you'll see the two-part series from Naples, Florida - that is a not-to-be-missed classic.  You'll also see many different models and maybe you'll pick a favorite.

As for me?  I'd watch the McNeilus Front Loader with the Curotto Can II any day of the week.