Sunday, Sunday, Sunday
I grew up in a home with only sisters. I didn't spend a lot of time with boy neighbors or boy cousins, or at least not enough to prepare me for some of the surprises of being the mother to a son. When I played with any boys when I was little we usually played games like whiffle ball or hide and seek, Star Wars action figures, you know, normal kid stuff. I had no idea what boys played when girls weren't around. One such surprise is the world of Monster Trucking.
First of all, I had no clue how important toy cars and trucks would be to Myles. Cripsian played with them all along, but I never thought through for what reason he chose to play with his trucks over so many other toys with less gender-association. As soon as he cuold sit up, Myles has wanted to play with toy cars and trucks. Before he could articulate any words really he could "vroom" as he pushed his cars across the floor.
However, Monster Trucks are a whole 'nother level.
When we were in the Outer Banks a few weeks back one of our activities was to visit Digger's Dungeon. The most popular Monster Truck in the U.S. is Grave Digger, in case you are unititated. This truck is built and driven by Dennis Anderson, based out of the Outer Banks (sorta). Digger's Dungeon is both the shop for Monster Truck modifying and the comemrcial center for all things Grave Digger. You can buy such interesting things as a plush monster truck
There are also a few older, retired Grave Diggers. One is out front, like you see above. There is one in the store, too, for the kids of all ages to sit inside. I bought Randy's grandson Collin a video of 20 years of Grave Digger. When I finally gave it to him last week, he watched it no less than three times in one day. Collin was so wound up he was shaking! Myles watched him watching it and repeated every excited utterance of Collin's. It was pretty funny until I remembered that we were watching Monster Trucks.
Myles has a few toy Monster Trucks, and right now they are his favorites. And so it begins.....
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My niece is 4 -- blond, blue-eyed, adorable, girly as all get-out, but she does have some uncharacteristic interests for a 4-year-old girl. One of them is fishing. She caught her first trout last weekend -- a 13-inch one to boot. The other is monster truck racing. It has nothing to do with my brother, either, who doesn't watch it. When Monster Jam came to Pittsburgh several months ago, she kept seeing the commercial for it. She'd stare at the TV, fascinated. One day she said to my brother, "Daddy, I want to go to that." And she said it every time it came on TV. So he bought tickets and took her. She LOVED it! She was telling me all about it the next day, and she and I had a long conversation about Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction and all the other trucks she saw. (She liked the new Hot Wheels truck a lot.) My mother sat there for a minute and listened to her daughter and her 4-year-old granddaughter talking about monster trucks, said quietly, "This is the most frightening conversation I have ever witnessed," and left the room. :-)
I love it when I write about something really dumb, like Viva la Bam, and you know exactly what I am talking about. And the best part is you get paid to know!!!!!