Lately, Alex been wanting to watch all the coverage of the oil…whatever you call it. Spill, blowout. I call it a disaster. But it’s got me thinking about my son.
This week at preschool “graduation,” he told his teachers he wanted to be “a worker at Disney World” when he grew up. We all laughed, but this morning I realized he meant something different than what we thought he meant. “When I grow up, I’m gonna make a ride that’s way up high, with a bunch of airplanes, and it’s gonna have Woody and Jessie jump, and swing off the airplane.” (Recognize this scene he’s recreating?) “And it’s gonna have a roof, and there’s gonna be a sign outside and it’s gonna say Toy Story 2.”
So evidently, he wants to be a design engineer.
But in the meantime, he’s Nature Boy. He has a heart for living things…
Watching an earthworm wiggle at the sandy edge of the creek--the worm he uncovered while picking up rocks to throw
…and he loves to be down in the woods, exploring the creek bank and throwing rocks.
looking down over the “magic goldfish pond,” which to his grown-up five year old mind no longer means magic or gold, but the minnows are still an object of fascination
He doesn’t understand the frightening implications of BP’s Gulf fiasco. And I don’t think I would want him to, frankly. Not at the age of five. Imagine the anxiety a small child would feel, carrying a weight that heavy.
Still, I like that he’s paying attention. I like that he’s astute enough to recognize that this is a big deal, even if he doesn’t connect it to the creeks and woods he loves.
Because someday he will connect it, and it will change the way he approaches life.
May all our children be so blessed.
What a sweet boy! I say keep him out in the woods as much as possible