"Ambance"

There will be no pictures this time around but maybe a little update on Tucker will do. Tucker has always been a fan of fire trucks. We go out of our way and drive by the Sewanee fire station at least twice a week. Usually we do a quick drive by and wave hi to the fire trucks. I have convinced him that when the doors are down, the fire trucks are sleeping.

Recently, Tucker has developed a slight obsession with the "ambance." There is a specific toy ambulance that he plays with at PMO. First thing this morning as we entered the doors at PMO he looked at me and said, "where ambance?" He carried it around all morning and even hid it at some points so the other kids wouldn't find it. Sometimes he would forget where he put it and look at me with a very puzzled face and say, "Mommy, where ambance?" Of course I kept my eye on it and knew where it was at all times to prevent a potential meltdown if he thought he had lost it.

This afternoon the kids and I dropped Chad off at school so he could rehearse for tonight's service. Rather than coming back home, the kids and I took advantage of living in a small town and made a spontaneous trip to the fire station. This time the doors were open so I parked and we got out of the car. I do wish I had taken my camera with me because Tucker was one elated little boy! His mouth did not close from the moment he realized that we were getting out of the car until long after we pulled out of the parking lot.

He ran to the fire trucks and just couldn't believe that he was close enough to touch them. Caroline was playing tour guide and pointing out the yellow water hose, big ladder and shiny wheels. They both climbed up on one of the platforms on the truck. Tucker just couldn't believe it, as I am pretty certain he has never "touched" a fire truck before. He then looked at me with a whole new level of excitement and said, "Mommy, ambance?!?!" We made our way over to the ambulance and he just stood there staring at it saying (loudly) "ambance, ambance!!!" Actually, I wish I had a video of this so you could hear him. Caroline was not as excited because she has done this before. However, I could tell she was so happy because she could see how thrilled Tucker was. It was fun seeing her support his excitement, as usually the excitement revolves around her.

Tucker was very hesitant about leaving. I had to pick him up to take him to the car. He was not crying or resisting, but he kept looking back at the ambulance and fire trucks. I promised him we would go back another day, but the fire trucks were about to take a nap so we had to leave. We then went back to school for the Thursday Night Family Eucharist. I took the kids in the PMO a few minutes before the babysitters got there. Of course Tuck needed the ambulance immediately! He did not put it down and even brought it into church with him when the time came. In fact, he ate dinner with it, brought it home, turned it on it's side and said, "Mommy, ambance night, night." At that point I decided that the "ambance" would not be the only one going night, night. So, I picked Tucker up as he held on tightly to his ambulance and put them both in bed. Night, night ambance...night, night Tuck :)