March 2, 2001 - Friday
Although he hasn't read it that recently, for a while "Men At Work" by Byron Barton was one of Harry's favorite books. It features big, bright color drawings of heavy capital equipment like back hoes, front-end loaders, bulldozers, and, of course, trucks, with straightforward narrative like "Hey you guys, " "Let's get to work," and "Knock down that building." A week or so ago, I noticed a construction site at a local school near Harry's daycare with three back hoes parked in the back. Since it was early morning and the back hoes weren't in use. I brought Harry over to see them, thinking he might recognize them from the story. But, the machinery was behind a big pile of dirt and a dumster-like storage bin that Harry kept calling a truck and so it seems he didn't quite make the back hoe connection.

Today, we happened to approach the school from a different direction and there, right out in the middle of a yard, was a giant unobstructed front-end loader, just like the one in Harry's book. We had to stop. I carried Harry over to it, let him touch the big wheels and yellow metal exterior, and then backed up again for a full profile view. I looked at Harry and said "Hey you guys, let's get to work" and a smile slowly came to his face. I think he recognized it.


Comments, opinions?