The Excavator

My son is obsessed with construction vehicles. He loves to play with them, we have 1800 of them in the house (yes, I'm cleaning out soon and may be slightly exaggerating, but not really!) and he looks for them whenever we leave the house.

Recently, he had a tonsillectomy/adnoidectomy. He wasn't doing so well. He loves to dig and play. I have wanted to plant seeds for an herb garden for a year or so. I decided that to perk him up, I would head to Lowe's (thank goodness it's so close) to get some seeds and soil. Not only that, but Nester had just posted about using plants in your house (something I've tried many times). I figured this would be a good intro once again for me and initially for lil man. It would probably make him feel better too.

Two days later, I was at Lowe's (again) looking at paint and plants and the like. I needed to figure out what I was going to plant my seeds in. I asked one of the employees who told me to just use egg cartons but then also pitched the seed pots they sell. I liked the idea of egg cartons as I had some and I love repurposing items. I gayly headed back home prepared to let my son have some fun to feel a little better.

First, to make sure the mess didn't go everywhere, I put newspaper down on the floor (yes, it's a linoleum floor, but it had just been mopped). The rule was he could do what he wanted provided he sat on the newspaper and the dirt stayed on the newspaper. He was ecstatic.

Then I demonstrated how to fill a little dirt into the egg carton. I had to assist him or else all the dirt would have been poured into one egg bed. I simply pointed where he needed to put the dirt. He made sure everything was even on his own! He was so excited to be digging in the bag of dirt like an excavator.

Dig, dump- think excavator shovel.

So sweet. I love that kid! Isn't he doing a great job with the planting???

He did a great job and later that day, he shared the fun with his cousin who came to visit. This kid was on cloud 9. It was so great to see him getting back to playing a little and enjoying life instead of laying in my arms or on the couch/bed unable to eat. I loved watching him dig- yes I even brought in sand in a big dish for him to play with because he was having so much fun. So great!

Trying to keep the dog out of the dirt/seeds while teaching cousin O how to fill egg beds.