Thursday, September 9, 2010

small town adventures

Lucky for me, my son doesn't know what size city we live in (if you're wondering, we have no Chick-fil-a and no Target, so that equals small for me!) and at his age (18 months) he gets quite excited about little things.

This has caused me to try and make parts of our day exciting for him in some way.  For instance, whenever we go to Wal-Mart, I try and make it a point to go and visit the fish.  As far as Elijah knows, it's just as great as the Aquarium we visited when we went to the beach back in April!  He loves to point out the different colors of fish and try to count them.  Great fun for a toddler! ...Always makes me want to bring a fish home (for a few seconds)!

Today...the small town adventure I had been waiting for happened.

You see, we can hear the train going through town several times a day, but Elijah has never gotten to actually see it.  And even if we have been stopped in traffic waiting for the train, he can't tell what is going on.

On the way back from the library this morning, I saw the train coming from a distance.  I pulled into an abandoned parking lot and we were able to get a first hand look at the train.  The engine stopped right in front of where we were standing (awesome!) and apparently they were doing some redirecting, so it went forward and backward several times before heading back the way it came.

Elijah loved it!

Then I was able to show him the train tracks so he could understand what those are a little bit better.  I was so excited for this opportunity today...a fun daytime moment in the life of a stay at home mom.

When the town was repaving the main road by our house several months ago, that made for some fun days!

We had Rolly, Scoop, and Muck (check out Bob the Builder) sitings almost everyday for weeks.  Justin and I even took him to sit on a steamroller one day when the equipment was parked for the night. Elijah loved it!

Basically, whatever is catching your child's interest at the time...be creative!  Even if you live in a small town there are easy and often free ways to let your child have fun.

I know that no ride in the car will ever be the same again.  I'm always on the lookout for trucks, trains, and motorcycles.  But what fun!

A few weeks ago we saw this creature on the road with us...you never know what you'll find!


What creative ways do you have fun with your kids around town?

2 comments:

Jeni Sinclair said...

You're such a good mommy. The pictures of Elijah and the train are SO cute!

Linda said...

Love the pictures of Elijah and the train also. Just wish I could see his face but know that was impossible to capture. I second the "good mommy", too. His mommy makes life quite interesting every day. Don't remember doing that for you girls but you couldn't have turned out any better. Thank you, Lord. I love you, Mom