Sirens and Monsters

Mister O continues to amaze me with his particular brand of imaginative play. And now he's begun to really be an influence on Felix.

O is really into rescue workers, especially their vehicles. This is nothing out of the ordinary for a preschooler in the city, but O shows a special affinity for sirens. He's also a gifted intuitive mimic. That blend means that we play ambulance and firetruck. A. Lot.

This is how the firetruck game goes: we're walking down the sidewalk. I'm pushing Felix in the stroller, O is walking along with us, and says, "Can we pay fietruck?"

I say, "Sure," and away we go. O stops, lets us pass him by a few feet, then starts up a very realistic siren wail (known to occasionally make strangers turn around to look for the oncoming rescue vehicle) followed by a low throaty, "Hawnk hawnk!" He sounds like a pack-a-day goose. My job is say, "Better move over, there's a firetruck coming!" and pull the stroller over to the right while he passes us and runs ahead a few paces. Rinse and repeat.

Lately, I've noticed that when O is with us, Felix will kick up a decent rendition of O's siren. It's pretty funny listening to the two of them siren away as we're walking the terribly civilized streets of Beacon Hill.

One of his other noise specialties is his roar. He's not into dinosaurs or lions or bears particularly, so I've dubbed it Monster Noise. What's funny is that my yet to be verbal son now does a perfect monster roar.

He saves his best roars for Dada, and O, of course.