I'm fixing My Truck

Finn, our 3 year old grandson has had a 3 year love affair with trucks, especially monster trucks, they are his favorite.

When he was about 1 1/2 years old he played with Match Box trucks, they were just the right size for his little hands. He wanted something to put in them that he could haul around. But the Match Box trucks are so small I had to great creative to find something that would fit. So I got a bunch of Q-tips and cut them up and the soft ends were just the right size. Finn would stack them in the little truck bed and he was very pleased that he had something to haul around. Apparently he was quite impressed with Q-tips, because since then, everytime he comes over he gets out the Q-tips and wants me to cut them up so he can haul them around.

This time he didn't haul the Q-tips around, instead he used them like screw drivers. He inserted them into each and every crevice he could find, then he twisted them around as he repeated over and over "I'm fixing my truck."

But after twisting the Q-tip around, instead of removing it like you would a screwdriver, he shoved it all the way up into various parts of the truck and left it there. Then he repeated the process with another Q-tip that was cut in half.

He was completely focused on this project.

After he had used up a half of box of Q-tips and there was no place left to insert another one, he decided to cover his truck in scotch tape. He recruited Papa Ira to hold the tape dispenser, while he meticulously pulled off little pieces of tape and stuck them all over his truck. Occasionally I would hear Finn say "Papa Ira, you're a good helper" or "Papa Ira, you're doing a good job."

Then he decided it would be cool to wrap rubber bands around the truck.

After the rubber bands came the paper clips, which he clipped onto the rubber bands. He kept saying "I'm fixing my truck."

The White Out dispenser was perfect for putting air into the tires.

And the pencil sharpener made a great gas tank.

Look closely at all the layers. This took Finn over 3 hours to do and he didn't get side tracked or loose concentration once during that entire time. Then he handed me the truck and very matter of factly said "I'm done fixing my truck." He laid down on the floor, and within 2 minutes he was sound asleep (of course it was 11:30 p.m. Cleveland time).