Hands-on learning

For the past month, Caleb and I have read one book, and one book only before his daily naps. It's appropriately named Diggers and Dumpers, and as far as my two and a half year old is concerned, it's a work of literary genius. We've read it so much that he has the whole thing memorized. Word for word.

He can tell you without hesitation that a bulldozer has a massive steel blade to push earth into piles.

He knows that the bucket on the back of a dump truck is called a skip, and he can tell the difference between a front end loader and a back hoe loader.

He understands that tractor tires have deep grooves to help the tractor grip the muddy earth.

He's learned that skid steers are often used instead of bigger machines because they can turn around in small spaces.

And now he knows that when the tree trimming service leaves a Bobcat unattended in the neighbor's yard overnight, it's pretty much a sure thing that we're going to go over there and sit in it.