Truck!!!!!!

Is it abnormal for a 33 year old to drive down the road and shout out "truck" when she sees a log truck ...if she's the only one in the car?

Charlie is absolutely obsessed with transportation -- airplanes, trucks, buses, boats, trains, motorcycles...  You name it and he loves them all.  Our rides to and from school and church have turned into a quest to find every such vehicle in Summerville and shout it's name, and once he's spotted one, he immediately demands more. 

The crazy part is that I find myself playing when I'm alone in the car.  Yesterday I was on my way into town and saw two back-to-back school buses in my rearview mirror and I was overjoyed...then I remembered that Charlie wasn't with me and felt a bit foolish, but I'm wondering if overjoyed was actually the appropriate response after all.  Trucks and buses and airplanes really are pretty neat.

In fact, Charlie has reintroduced me to all kinds of excitement lately.  He can hear the geese coming about 20 seconds before they actually appear above the trees and he starts shouting and staring into the sky.  Then as they clear the treetops and glide down for a landing on the pond, he shouts and claps, and to be honest -- a gaggle of geese flying in and landing in your backyard is pretty cool.

And, while Jason and I have been married 6 1/2 years, I admit that it is still pretty exciting to hear his truck rev up the driveway after a long day.  Now, alone I probably wouldn't race to the back door and start pounding on the glass, but it sure is fun to watch Charlie do it -- and to see Jason's face when he witnesses the joy he brings.  When Otis gets in on the act you'd think it was Christmas morning around here, not Monday night.

And no one can really deny the fact that the weightless whoosh you feel when pushed high on the swing deserves a "whoa!" and a giggle, followed by a "whee" on the upward arc.  It's as close to flying as we'll get in this lifetime.

While I can't see myself cuddling a banana all the way home from Publix anytime soon, and I hope to break Charlie of the joy he finds in ripping a bubble mower out of the hands of another little boy and then shouting "whee" as he pushes it away, I am definitely finding much more excitement and joy and thrill in life than I have for years.  I suppose this is just one of the first in a long list of things I'll learn from my baby.

Wheee!