The "Real Man"

Ben's been complaining about having to ride in his safety-regulation car seat for awhile now. He's only 3, but to him the thing is just uncool, and as soon as we start getting close to our neighborhood, he starts asking if he can unbuckle. It's nearly intolerable to him since last week, when my little guy became a real man.

The other day, we pulled into a gas station next to a Jeep that was on those giant tractor wheels with the top off. As I opened the door to get out, Ben opened the automatic sliding door in the back of the van, gave the driver of the Jeep a thumbs up and a leer, and drawled, "Awesome car, man!"
Crack me up! Then he had me call his daddy so he could beg him for a convertible on big wheels.

Last weekend, we got to go down to Mom and Jim's farm for a couple of days. My step-dad is really into Harleys since he's retired, and spends most of his time puttering around in the barn on one of these things. It's called a trike. That's the back of a Volkswagon Beetle, in case you're wondering, and that's us on it:


Wow, Ben was jazzed when we got off the trike. He lit up all over like he was ALIVE for the very first time. Quivered and laughed and jabbered a mile a minute. It really WAS cool--we rode all over town on it. Then Pop took Ben out in the old Corvette fixer-upper he likes to drive (if it's not raining, or if he's only driving about 2 miles....it looks cool, but it needs work.)
Look at this face!!


Then Mom took Kaela and Ben out to the barn to torment the barn cats. While they were out there, they got to climb up on the tractor and practice cutting hay.


When we called Eric on the way home, Ben was all over the place. He was irritated because he had to ride in the carseat, and impatient to have his dad overrule my decision to make him. "Give me the phone!" he kept insisting.
When I finally gave it to him, Ben said, "Daddy! I'm a real man now!"
His chest has been puffed up ever since, and he wants to tell everyone about his experiences.

I was going to frame this picture from Holiday World just a few weeks ago, but now it makes our big man frustrated. He's not a little kid anymore, he would like us all to know. He's a real man who has ridden a motorcycle and a Corvette and was forever changed. He sure is cute, though.