weekend in pictures - part two, the firehouse

Ed note: for the back story, please click HERE.

OK, so where were we? I believe we left off yesterday having successfully doused the towering inferno – AKA the ‘Oh yeah, that’s right, in yo’ face, Doc’ cupcake as the apple pie and apple crisps finished baking.

The girls set off to make cards for the firefighters while I finished cleaning up.

Although this may seem like too small a detail to mention, I have to tell you what happened next. The girls went into the den together and they made cards. And I stayed in the kitchen and cleaned up. And for some reason I could not discern – perhaps the moon was in the seventh house? Jupiter aligned with Mars? (Anyone want to name the song?) No matter the reason, I’ll be damned if peace didn’t guide the planet (anyone?) because not once did I hear, “Mama, Brooke is yelling” or “Mama, she’s totally not listening” or “Mama, I need help!” from one or a pained “Nooooooooooooo!” from the other one.

Nope, not once. They sat. They drew. Love steered the stars. (C’mon now, I know you know this.)

Anyway, this was the result from the big one. (Front of Katie’s card …)

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Middle of Katie’s card … I love that she not only took the time to draw the water shooting out of the fire truck and onto the burning house, but that she felt it important to add the bright blue sky and sun. Hey, guys, if you’re going to have to go risk your lives to fight a fire, we here at the Diary house really hope it’s a gorgeous day.

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And this was the result from the little one …

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I know I’m her mom and I know I’m not remotely objective, but seriously, how awesome is that? THAT is five years of OT, my friends. And for the record, this was a child who would / could not HOLD a writing implement of any kind in pre-school. How about them apples?

And not for nothin’, but can we talk about what she wrote inside her card (below)?

Do you like fire fighting?

Now, for the uninitiated, let me tell you why this matters. It matters because of this – Theory of mind. OK, moving on.

Middle of Brooke’s card …

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So, cards and hot apple crisp in hand, we headed out. After a quick stop at Whole Foods for some eighteen carat gold ice cream (I just assumed because I can’t imagine why else they would have charged $9 for a quart of the stuff), we headed down to the local firehouse. When we got there, we wandered around for a while, completely confused. We opened doors, peeked around corners and even bumped into each other a couple of times. Had we carried on that way for long, I could have called the post The Keystone Cops visit the Firehouse.

Finally, we opened the right door and found the crew gathered around a large table. The moment was initially awkward, but hot apple crisp and a quart of gold-plated ice cream broke the ice pretty quickly. That and a couple of really cute kids. Does the trick every time.

Katie and I hung out at the door and chatted a bit with one of the guys. Brooke however, walked right in and began asking the firemen their names. One by one, she walked around the room, pointing at each of them so there would be no doubt who she was addressing when she said, “What’s your name?” “It’s nice to meet you, Mike. I’m Brooke.” Then the outstretched little finger would lead her to her next inquiry. “What’s YOUR name? “It’s nice to meet you, Joe. I’m Brooke.” And so on.

Katie tugged at my arm. It’s a tug I know well. It’s the ‘MAMA, she’s embarrassing me’ tug. I looked down and smiled at her. “She’s fine, baby,” I whispered. “She’s fine.” Truthfully, I thought she was doing a whole lot better than fine.

One of the guys asked if the girls would like to go see the trucks. Before I could so much as turn my head, they’d both shouted, “Yes, please!” so off we went.

The girls were in heaven as Fireman Mike showed them around. He let them hold/ touch/ push/ pull /try on nearly anything in which they expressed an interest.

So Brooke immediately jumped into these …

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She was very excited when Fireman Mike showed up with the necessary accessories to complete the outfit.

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Then it was time for a ride …

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This would probably be an opportune time to tell you why I welled up as I took the photo above.

You know those Touch-a-Truck events where local service groups and businesses bring their trucks to a big field and let the kids in town crawl all over them? Well, they sound great. Unless you have a kid for whom a field full of other kids screaming, laughing, crying, ringing bells, honking horns and setting off sirens may as well be the third ring of Hell. So this – well, this was big. My baby got to check out the fire trucks all by herself.

And her mama got to enjoy yet another of those HUGE tiny moments that we on this journey have the privilege of noticing. Moving on …

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Next it was big sister’s turn to drive …

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But that was just the engine. What about the ladder?

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You can see just how much Katie really hated all this, can’t you? She really looks miserable in this next one, don’t you think? …

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While Katie was driving the ladder, Brooke decided to suit up again and hop back into the engine. Ya know, just in case. Always good to be prepared. (Mike tried to explain that the hat was backwards, but she wasn’t goin for it.)

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As she climbed down from the truck, Brooke pointed a finger at Mike indicating that she had something to tell him. “We LOVE firefighters!” she yelled. Mike smiled. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of her, but he was pretty sure he liked her. She then followed up with some very important information for him. “When you see smoke, you stay low and GO!”

MIke laughed. “That’s right. Wow, you’re better at this than I am! Thanks.”

I’m guessing he hasn’t seen this. Perhaps we should donate one to the department …

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Next it was Katie’s turn to suit up …

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As soon as she was in the get-up, Brooke came running at her and did this …

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Which was sweet, but made very little sense until a few minutes later when we were headed out.

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We thanked Mike profusely for his time. He thanked us for the apple crisp. And as we said our goodbyes, Brooke asked Katie a question. Loudly.

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“Hey, Katie, do you want to HUG firefighter Mike?”

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Katie looked at me. I looked at her. Neither of us looked at Mike. And Brooke asked again.

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“Katie, are you going to hug firefighter Mike?”

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Katie handled it as only Katie could. First she very nicely responded to her sister, “Hmm, I don’t think so Brooke.” And then stage whispered to Mike what everyone else was thinking. “Well, that was awkward.”

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I could barely contain myself.

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When we got outside, both girls still had smiles wrapped three times around their heads. I was about to ask them what their favorite moments had been, but Brooke had a question.

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“Hey, Katie. Did ya hug a firefighter?”

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Katie chuckled. “Um, no Brooke, I didn’t.”

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Brooke looked smug as she answered.

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“Well I did.”

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And suddenly it all made sense. Elmo. Elmo had hugged a firefighter. And now, in her own ingenious way, so had Brooke. That’s my kid.

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And that, my friends was our day at the firehouse. Thanks so much for coming along for the ride!

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A HUGE shout out to our firemen – not just to the guys who showed my girls (and me!) such warmth and hospitality on Sunday, but to fire fighters everywhere who risk their lives every day to keep us safe. You are our heroes. If we could, we’d bring every single one of you a hot apple crisp and eighteen carat gold ice cream.

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