Showing Nans how my trucks work

Nans, Oma, and Opa flew back to NJ late last night on a Wilma-delayed flight. We all had a nice two-week visit and are missing them now. Opa's Flickr page has more pictures from our adventures together.

Today Malcolm and I were reading a little book about things with wheels. When we came to the backhoe page, Malcolm got up and walked away to get his lego toy backhoe. He brought it right back and settled in my lap to continue the book. Soon we read about a crane, and he stretched the long arm of the backhoe up high to make it into a crane. Mom has (once or twice) called the toy a backhoe to him and Dad has (once or twice) called it a crane, so naturally it is both.

A few days ago, I was reading a book we hadn’t read in a while, and was excitedly showing Malcolm the polar bear on the page. He surprised me by not showing interest (he loves bears) and instead trying quickly to turn the page. On the next page was another polar bear, nearly identical to the first, and he pointed knowingly at it, saying "See, there is another bear on this page too." I didn't even remember that the second bear was there.