Charlie and the Lawnmower

As yet, I've not told you much about my son.  Charlie.  He's almost five.  A very sweet, somewhat shy, and smart little guy... who is completely obsessed with lawn equipment!

That's right.  OBSESSED!

It started when he was about three.  He'd point out to us every lawn mower, trimmer, leaf blower he saw on a daily basis.  It was cute.  So, we got him his very own bubble mower!  He absolutely loved it, and to this day, it's his favorite toy.



And even though he's almost too tall for it now, he still pushes it all over the yard. He'd do it every single day if he could.

Well, sometime last year, I got his little sister Sarah a stroller for her dollies.  She'd love that, right?  Well, little did I know, so would Charlie.

He borrows it on a regular basis to "mow" inside!  I think he's put more miles on it than Sarah has, by far!  The Swiffer sweeper has become his weed trimmer.  The carpet and area rugs are his "lawn". 

He's very serious about this too.  He follows the lines of the area rugs perfectly, making sure to "mow" every square inch of them.  He backs up, and gets into corners.  And he does it all with appropriate sound effects too.  From cranking it up (he actually pulls his imaginary pull cord... two or three times mind you) to hitting a thick patch of grass, and shutting it down, he has different sound effects for all scenarios!  For the "trimmer" too.

He did it at school too.  In the classroom and on the playground.  In the absence of something to fill in as a mower, he just pushed his imaginary one.  Cranked it up and everything!

He does this on a daily basis, and has pretty consistently for the last two years.  He did take his hiatus over the winter months though!  As soon as the mowing crews disappeared from the streets on our daily drives, and Daddy quit mowing our dormant lawn, Charlie's incessant mowing and trimming stopped.  And mercifully (for the adults who endured the hours on end of mowing sounds), he found other activities to occupy his free time both at home and at school.

As soon as the first lawn crews of spring arrived though, so too did Charlie's mowing habit.  It was just this past spring that the refination of the different mowing and trimming sounds came to pass.  And it's constant.  I swear, if I let him, he would "mow" all day long, every single day!  Oh, he occasionally takes a break. 

Like if his lawn mower is broken... he'll go get his play tools and "fix" it.  Or if a REAL mower shows up somewhere outside his window, he'll stand at there and watch it for as long as it's within his sight.

I suppose there are worse things.  And I really have to admire his imagination and ingenuity.  The fact that it's somewhat amusing however, does not stop it from becoming incredibly annoying when he's been "mowing" for hours on end!

Thankfully, his interests have diversified somewhat since the beginning of this obsession.  And I'm confident that they will continue to do so.  I know it's a phase, but it's an awfully long one!