Alex LOVES lawn mowers! He waits all week to mow our lawn with Daddy's lawn mower, despite mowing it several times during the week with his own toy lawn mower. He likes to find who is mowing their lawn & watch them, if he hears a lawn mower running. If we go on a walk, he notices not only the lawn mowers in any open garages, but also if the owner's lawn has been mowed recently. If their lawn is a bit too long, according to his calculation, he says, "We should give them a service." (That's thanks to a few opportunities Mike has had to mow a couple lawns for others - complete heaven for Alex to be able to mow more than just our front & back lawns in one week.)
For our family pictures (which I still need to post on here), we could not get him to smile for anything. Finally, Mike thought to start talking to Alex about lawn mowers. He perked right up, & we got a few good smiles out of him.
In sacrament meeting, we've learned that the best way to keep Alex somewhat still, for at least a little while, is to draw lawn mowers, "lawn-mower-trimmers" (grass trimmers), hedge-trimmers, riding lawn mowers & (since a service day at Uncle Levi's, when Alex witnessed his first real one:) chainsaws. We also draw "the shed" to put it all in, & the gas container "to put gas in it to make it go loud." This is the best use of the power of the lawn mower obsession yet. Unfortunately, it doesn't always last the entire meeting, & Alex still needs to be taken out for loud or unruly behavior, at least once each week.
I hope Alex is still this excited about mowing the lawn when he's 8 & can start helping to actually mow the lawn, rather than just watching Dad do it!
