February 3, 2009

Volunteer fireman


Matt's preschool took a trip to the Shoreline Fire Safety Station recently. It has little turnouts for the kids, a little fire pole they can slide down, all kinds of fire trucks to play with and educational exhibits. The kids watched a safety video and watched a cool dollhouse that fills up with smoke when one of the dolls neglects a pot on the stove.


Matt enjoyed it all, of course, except when the firefighter demonstrated a real smoke alarm. Matt hates, hates, hates those things because they're so loud. He clapped his hands to his ears and looked around frantically for me. I was holding up the counter at the side of the room, and had to wave to him over all the kids reassuringly. He was clearly thinking about bolting. I guess we won't have any problem teaching him to leave the house immediately in case of an emergency!!


At the end of the presentation, the instructor asked what the kids' favorite part of the video was, and if they had any questions. After one girl shared her favorite part, Matt raised his hand and said, "I have some things I need to tell you." The other moms cracked up, but I knew what was coming....the other kids got up and wandered away as Matt launched into a full-blown narrative stream about all his fire trucks at home and what they did and their various ailments. Thankfully, folks in the fire service are great!

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