Happy day.

[rivka]

Alex and I had a banner day today.



The Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Preschool and Day School celebrated their annual Truck Day today, and invited the public to attend. When we arrived, the first thing we saw were two enormous fire trucks, ladders fully extended and every compartment open for viewing. Also on display: a Baltimore City police car with lights flashing, a state trooper's car, three highway patrol motorcycles, an ambulance, a snowplow, a scrap metal hauler, a cement mixer, a cable truck with cherry picker, a motor home, and (I thought this was a nice touch) an ice cream truck.

Groups of kids from the school were going around together, getting tours, but we found that everyone was just as happy to show off to us individually. The guy driving the scrap hauler showed us how he could tilt the whole body of the truck backward. A cable lineman rode up and down in his cherry picker. A friendly seventeen-year-old fireman showed Alex how he puts on his gear - boots with attached pants, coat, and helmet - and earnestly explained to her that she should never be afraid when she sees a firefighter, because under their gear they are people just like she is. He also let her climb around inside the passenger compartment.

She didn't say a word to any of the workers, but her grin just kept getting bigger and bigger.

Afterwards, we met our friends Emily and Zoe at the playground.

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

TRUCK DAY!!!!!!!

*whew* That cheered me right up. Thanks!

[lydy.livejournal.com]

I'm sure my grin isn't as big as Alex's, but it's not small. I really must find a toddler that I can borrow. I love the way they attack the world.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

I'm just stuck back at "seventeen-year-old firefighter" and the image of such an angel talking to your little one.

I need a cold drink now.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Aaaawwww, very cute. But she's so LONG. I mean tall. But actually I do mean long, because it's the arms and legs that are notable. She doesn't look like a toddler anymore, she looks like a preschooler. Is that common for aged two? The only other kid her age I know still has far more of a toddler's body. You did say in a previous post that she's tall for her age, but it's not so much the height I'm noticing in these pictures as it is the long, thin arms and legs. She looks so grown-up!

P.S. The pigtails? So adorable.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Her same-age friends also seem to be lengthening out and looking more mature - although my perspective is colored by knowing them since they were tiny babies.

In Alex's case, the effect is exaggerated by the fact that she is very skinny. If you look at all kids of her height, only about 5% weigh less than she does. So she really is unusually long and thin.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

We were going to go to a Touch-a-Truck day a few weeks ago, but we canceled our plans because it was 35 degrees out and threatening rain/snow. Now I'm bummed that we missed ours.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I have to say that Elena adores these pictures. We have to look at every one of them in great detail.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We have got to find a way to get the girls together.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Well, now that I'm a *little* closer, it should be a little easier. We'll just keep our eyes peeled for opportunities - for us to go south, or you to come north. :)

[chomology.livejournal.com]

Oh, the cuteness! She has perfect ponytail hair!

It was also Truck Day at June's preschool (also Jewish, it's clearly a conspiracy) but it sounds like BHC had a much larger fleet! Glad you guys had fun, it was a beautiful day to be out and about.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Oh, my goodness!

1. That list of trucks is incredible.

2. She's so tall!

3. What a great smile :-).

4. A 17-year-old firefighter? Whoa. I would never have guessed that the minimum age wasn't 18, or even 21.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I went to high school with someone who was a volunteer firefighter. He had a beeper (in the late 80s, that was unusual for a kid) - and sometimes would get beeped in class and have to go find a phone. But he lived out of town in a very rural area.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

We had fire sirens. There were fire departments near all the high schools and I always wondered if that was planned. When the sirens went off, we left school immediately.

We never got to go into buildings until they were declared safe, but we held hoses and did other outside stuff.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

He told me that until he's 18 there are some things he's not allowed to do. But he does go out on fire calls and, you know, fight fires. He started training when he was 16.

At first I was a little bit horrified. Then I realized that joining a fire department is a lot better than what many other young men in search of danger wind up doing.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Then I realized that joining a fire department is a lot better than what many other young men in search of danger wind up doing.

That's a really good point.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

TRUCKS!

Wow! That sounds like so much fun. I know Henry would have a BLAST.

I've randomly wondered what would happen if we stopped by our local fire department and asked for a tour.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

TRUCKS! Wow! That sounds like so much fun. I know Henry would have a BLAST.

I know! Do these guys know toddlers, or what? It's the perfect activity.

I would recommend calling the fire dept first to find out if they're busy, but I bet they'd love to get a visit. My understanding is that firefighting shifts involve very long stretches of boredom.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

And the firefighter eye-candy? They're not all seventeen ...

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

I love the mismatched pig-tail bands. Very Punky Brewster. ;)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

*wince* Punky Brewster? Now I have to go out and buy another set of bands, so that she won't mismatch anymore. ;-)

[going-not-gone.livejournal.com]

When my son was little, we used to go over to the firehouse, just me and him, and if they weren't busy they'd let him look around and show him their trucks.

You're making me all nostalgic for my long-lost toddler boy....who is now playing his saxophone.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Wow, Truck Day! That sounds like a lot of fun! I was a volunteer firefighter when I was 15 - back then, Virginia Beach had only volunteer firefighters so they took young'uns, too, but didn't let us do the most dangerous things.

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

She. is. so. cute.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I would have loved to come along!

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

That thing she does at the top of the slide, in the first picture after the text. I don't know what you call it, where she grabs the bar overhead and swooops, kicking with both feet. Was that swinging through onto the slide? That's pretty amazing for 2. The little girls I love, even the really climby one, were always more timid at the tops of slides. I remember that overhead grab and jump onto a slide...what it does to my balance sense and the pit of my stomach feels like grabbing a rope and leaping out over water.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, no. She swings by her arms, hangs for a minute, and then puts her feet down. Then she sits carefully at the top of the slide and slides down. I think I would have a heart attack if she did the swing-and-jump.

She's very proud of having learned how to swing by her arms, and does it at every opportunity. But in general, she's a pretty physically timid kid.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Oooh, gorgeous! FIRE TRUCK!! (Er, I have a good friend who is a volunteer firefighter, so yay the vollies!) And cherry picker,too -- didja know that one of the things I've been looking at doing is high voltage? ;)

And the picture of Alex running in the flowers is just lovely.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

She is no longer a toddler really, she is a little lady. So cute and REAL.

[boubabe.livejournal.com]

I'm stunned. I can't believe that is your little girl. I swear that you were just posting about the pregnancy! Looks like it was a fabulous day. I wish it was as green here in Alberta as it is in Baltimore!

[roga.livejournal.com]

The firetruck picture looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. So adorable! And the pigtails with the natural hair part look great, by the way.