Mulching It Up

Sam discovered the wonderful world of mulch today, something I had never really heard of until I was a homeowner well into my 30's.  When I told him the mulch guy was coming, he asked me, "What that is called?"  I said mulch is a special kind of dirt, and a man delivers it as part of his job -- I neglected to note how expensive that special kind of dirt can be.

Once Sam saw the mulch guy in action with truck trailer, and wheelbarrow, he was all gung-ho about "helping."  Now Mr. Ian (aka "the mulch guy") seems like a very nice guy, but would he really be thrilled to have a "mini-helper" on his heels while doing this back-breaking work?  Heck, I gave birth to Sam and there are still plenty of times I'd prefer that he didn't "help" me at all.  Well, Mr. Ian earned Good Sport of the Year Contest in my book.  He completely humored Sam, lifting him up into the trailer to "work" with him shoveling mulch, and even filling his neon toddler-sized wheelbarrow with -- you guessed it - mulch.  I couldn't help it -- I had to take pictures of all that hilarity in action.

The next morning the first thing Sam asked when he woke up is, "Is Mr. Ian here?"

"No," I responded, "not until next year."

"Oh."  Sam seemed disappointed to lose his new playmate for a whole year, but after a minute he seemed to be OK with it.  He explained to me,  "Mulch is a special kind of dirt, Mommy."

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