A City Boy No More

After spending Friday night and Saturday at the farm (Aaron's parents' place), our Alex is officially a "city boy" no more! He's by no stretch of the imagination a "country boy" ... but he's successfully beginning to shed some of the "city boy" stereotype.

He found a turtle on the road (who successfully escaped the box not once, but twice!).....
Can you find the bug on the bush? Our four year sure old can!
Next came helping Grandpa mow the lawn - his first time on a riding mower (or "little tractor" as he calls it). Usually he's terrified of loud noises - and still runs and hides from the vacuum. But because he was safe in Grandpa's strong, protective arms, he was okay with the noisy mower, and was so excited that he got to help steer it!
Then he found a little frog, and was positively convinced he needed to come home with us. One thing that I love about being at the farm in the evening this time of year is the frog chorus that practically echoes outside.
And to top it off, we decided it was time he learned what a REAL gun is. We wanted him to learn a healthy fear of the power of guns, and that though he may "play guns", he's never to touch a real one without a grown-up's permission and help. So lots of time was spent going over "gun rules" both days with him. Since he's only four, we discussed, but decided against having the gun actually kill something (like a bird). We want to teach him a healthy fear without the possible trauma of his first up-close death! Aaron grew up on a farm, and they figure he had his first gun experience at about the same age.

Friday night Grandpa helped him fire a little .22, and Alex was SO excited! Then to give Alex a healthy dose of fear, they pulled out the big 270 on Saturday. For those of you, who like me, have no idea what that size gun means - the boom was so loud that even with my fingers in my ears, they were ringing for a good 10 minutes after just one shot. He fired it into the pond so Alex could see all the waves it made. Alex was terrified and suddenly guns were much less appealing. He was actually so scared that he asked to fire the little one again, so he'd be less scared. But since he doesn't know which ones are really scary, and which ones are a little less scary, he's agreed that he'll never even touch one without a grown-up there. So, mission accomplished!Overall - Alex (and Harrison) had a BLAST at the farm - mostly playing with Grandpa while Aaron and I helped Granny with a project or two around the house!