My Little Fire Fighter

On Wednesday night before Tommy went to bed, Matthew was over at our house. In his time playing with Tommy, he mentioned that maybe we might take him to see a real fire truck the next day. Okay, actually he promised that we would take him to see a fire truck the next day. Now I don't know all toddlers, but Tommy has a memory like a steel trap, so if you tell him something right before he goes to bed (or any time, for that matter), he will remember it and wake up talking about it. Thanks Matt.

So yesterday morning Tommy woke up talking about fire fighters and fire trucks and right after breakfast hauled out his halloween costume (it wasn't used for that long) and wanted me to put it on him. Not thinking to even change him out of his pajamas, he put on the whole ensemble- coat and hat. He played with his toy fire trucks for a while, but soon that got boring and he wanted to go see a real one. We called a friend who is with the fire department to see the best way to go about getting to see real fire trucks. Apparently you just show up. But he called the station near our house so they were expecting a really excited two-year-old in a fire fighter's costume. So we headed over there and he talked the whole way about how he was going to ride in the truck and put out fires and if I wanted to, I could ride in the truck with him. He's a big talker, as we've learned from Santa and Halloween. Sure enough, he was really pumped until they opened the garage and he saw... a REAL FIRE TRUCK! His grip on me immediately tightened and he said "Mommy, go THAT way!" (pointing to our car). I made him go in and the guys were great. They offered to let him try on their boots (he refused) and opened the door for him to climb into the truck. Not a chance. He did loosen up a bit when they turned on the lights. By the time we left, he at least said "bye" and "thank you" to the guys there. This may be a baby steps thing.

Then we went to lunch (still in his fire suit with his pajamas underneath) and he talked all about how he went to see a fire truck and went in it and put out fires... the kid dreams big.