Fun on the Farm

Phoenix has become an old pro at flying to Kansas. While he still obsesses about the call button on the airplane (he Really, really, really wants to push it) and he detests releasing his shoes and toys to the x-ray machine (who doesn't?), he seems to understand the drill. He always looks forward to our trips "home"; he Adores our families. But E and I have secretly worried that he will break our hearts one day and not want to return to our home. E's closest childhood friend has a teenage daughter who has grown up in locales like Moscow and Toronto and is now in NYC. As a teen she is thrilled to be there, but there was a time that she visited Wichita and wanted to move. The space, the yards, the cars, it was all so big and exotic, in a different way. So each trip home I wonder if my little man will yearn for big and bucolic over close-quarters and culture.

The days are filled here with Barry Bobbit on the tractor - an all time fave for P. Trees to be felled, towed and tossed onto the burn pile. The immense fire of the burn pile and more sticks to be thrown into said pile than P could ever wish for. The pond for rock tossing with that limitless supply of rocks and skipping stones. The hay bales to climb and jump. His little John Deere to ride or my dad's mule to adventure in. (Sidenote: Phoenix just woke up from his nap and informed me that a nice alien shared one of his cars with him.) At any rate, there is outdoor fun to be had everyday and a large house to roam. This doesn't even factor in the amazing attention he gets at E's house with his most favorite playmates in the world and more cars than you can count. When I look at it all I think he'll never want to leave.

Which, of course, makes it unusually sweet to hear him ask to go home every couple of days. Usually at the end of a long, eventful day. Sometimes just because he's thinking of a toy we didn't bring. Sometimes because he wants his bed or his stoop or his aquarium or his dirt-pile. But at the end of the day its nice to know he likes both of his "homes."