Planes, trains and fire-engines

"Urrgh!"

A chubby little finger points out the window and the big blue eyes seek out where I am in the room to ensure I am sharing in the excitement. Outside a truck, or a bus, or a fire-engine rolls past the window.

"Bbbbrrrrr!" Noah calls after the truck, doing his best to mimic the "Brum-brum" of the engine. Noah has discovered trucks, cars, buses and most importantly fire-engines. They elicit unparalleled excitement, pointing and talking. Nothing sends Noah scampering to the window faster than the sound of a garbage truck outside.

Even when he is half way to sleep, eyes closed and breathing slowing, if a fire engine's siren is heard in the distance, Noah sits bolt upright, "Urrgh! Bbbbrrrr!" and points, trying to convince me to let him down so he can run to the window to see. No longer does my city baby sleep through anything. I spend much time now praying that no sirens or large trucks pass by our apartment whilst Noah is in the delicate stage of drifting off to sleep. Often these prayers go unanswered - we do live in Manhattan after all, I can't expect God to stop the city so my baby can sleep.

Dogs, pigeons and squirrels elicit similar reactions, with the addition that Noah wants to chase after them, arms outstretched. On a recent trip to the park, Noah was delighted to find the pigeons were distracted enough that he almost caught up to them (mating season). They were actually distracted enough that I got concerned he may actually catch one - thankfully, they did notice the 2 foot tall blue toddler bearing down on them and fluttered off to a safe distance to resume their activities. Not too sure what Noah would have done if he had gotten any closer...

Noah's new found excitement at all things automotive and animal, was only recently surpassed by a friend's little girl's excitement at planes. On taking us to the airport, our friend had suggested that if her 3 year old daughter came along it would make her day. Little did I realise that Mia would be positively breathless at seeing all the planes. Her excitement was palpable still a few miles from the airport, when Mia caught sight of the first plane coming in to land. By the time we reached the airport, Mia could no longer talk, was completely breathless with excitement and could do no more than stammer and point at all the planes. Finally, after catching her breath, Mia managed to tell me exactly what she was feeling, "I JUST LOVE PLANES!"

This sums up what I think Noah was experiencing at the same time. He was excitedly pointing out the other side of the car at all the airport buses rolling past the car. He looked like his little head might explode with happiness, he could hardly contain himself.

"Urrgh! Bbbbrrr! Bbbbrrr! Urrgh! Bbbrrrrr!"