One day last week, we had to take Josh to Albia so he could bring home a tractor that had been repaired. On the way there, Caleb randomly announces that he wants to start a collection. Thus began a conversation about what kind of collection he would be interested in starting. (Upon catching a dragonfly this summer, we had talked briefly about starting an insect collection. However, it took me three days to get the nerve to kill the thing (simply putting the sealed jar in the freezer) and then after that, I could never bring myself to pinning it to a board. Ewww! So the insect collection was never really started and the poor dragonfly lost its life for nada! Anyway....) We talked over a few options but reached our destination before we settled on anything.
While there, Caleb found a nut (from a bolt, not from a tree) that he became quickly attached to. Why he became attached to this particular nut, I have no idea. Maybe it was because it was an official nut from the mechanic's shop or... I just don't know. But what I DO know is that when he lost it, it wasn't pretty... if we hadn't been in the presence of others, I'm sure a melt down would have quickly ensued! Buddy Miles to save the day though! When Miles noticed Caleb was unhappy and learned why, he went to his very own personal spare parts tray and not only replaced Caleb's nut, but gave him a whole big bolt loaded with washers and a nut to hold it all together. There's nothing in this world that you could have given Caleb at that time that would have been better than receiving that bolt full of washers!
Sarah and I came on home in the car and Caleb and Josh started the trip home with the tractor. Fast forward a few hours and through all the chores and jobs they did once they got home, and we get back to the part about Caleb's collection....
Now, any mother of a little boy will tell you that some things will catch a little boy's fancy that no one else would ever give a second glance to. Example: a bolt full of washers! When Caleb came in that evening from spending the entire afternoon with Josh, he had a pocket full of goodies for his new collection that he was ever so excited to show and tell me all about! Now, I share with you:
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| Sarah is always ready to greet Caleb! (Notice Caleb's hat. Its a bright neon green fabric with a belt of reflection fabric around the center, the kind that construction workers wear as a safety thing. His Papa Loren got it for him this Fall during harvest so that Caleb could wear it and they would absolutely know for sure exactly where he was at when they were working with so much equipment. Well, harvest is over, the hat is still as blindly bright as it ever was, Caleb is still wearing it, and I get a kick at how the thing glows when the camera flash reflects off it!) |
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| With much ado, he began digging in his pockets... |
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| ...and out came all kinds of goodies! Notice on the far right is the bolt full of washers. There was also several fencing insulators (I'm pretty sure they weren't in working condition, otherwisw they'd be on a fence!), a lock and a key (that is so rusty I'm not sure it still works...can you say WD40?), a few rocks, and some other things not pictured that I can't remember. He was so thrilled with every single one of them and told me the story about how he came about each. |
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| One proud kiddo! (And his hat band is still glowing...) His collection, which is still to be named, is currently stored in an ice cream bucket on our back porch. He has added to it every day, still with no running theme except for it being things he's found outside and gotten permission to have. Gotta love how the simplest things makes a child so happy! |
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