Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The Bucket List

The Bucket List:
1. 5 dive sticks
2. 15 cars (We started with 5 and added 5 more each morning for 3 days)
3. 5 sand buckets
4. 7 shovels
5. 2 squishy water balls
6. a yellow John Deere backhoe
7. a green John Deere bulldozer
8. sand covered sun screen ("Is it the yellow, non burning kind mom?" It comes in a yellow container and it's for Kids. My son thinks "kids" means non-burning like the no more tears "kids" shampoo.)
9. a green soccer themed straw cup of water for big brother
10. a yellow straw cup with handles of water for little brother

The Bucket List provides about 2 hours worth of beach entertainment. Not bad. Every morning this bucket must be driven s-l-o-w-l-y out to the beach by its owner and carried up and down the steps by the owner and his mother (I am to carry only the front and ONLY at the stairs). Every afternoon the bucket and its contents must be washed out by my 4 year old, one item at a time. This cannot be hurried or rushed. Forget a water shortage or desire to conserve, this practice must be done to the letter or a hurricane of tears and shouts and stomps erupt.

I find this desire to "do it myself" and this unusual need for cleanliness of toys (but not personal body parts, his room, nor any other clean-up routine) refreshing. Hopefully these desires are a glimmer of personal responsibility in the distant future? Perhaps I'm projecting my own desire in there, but I'd like to think so.

No comments: