Tracer - horsies is great. My middle child was (well, is) obsessed with clothes. I mean, couldn’t even speak and if we took her into a store she would lean over to clothes. Cry if we didn’t let her near them or left a store too early. Kids ‘r wacky.

She KNEW it would be a non-negotiable with him!

‘Fly, that is a fantastic story. I love that your brother still has the truck!

The year our father died, I helped my brother build his Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts. He wanted to make something that nobody else would have, to carry on the family tradition of cars that ran like crap but looked cool. Unfortunately it was beyond my ability to make anything cool-looking. Finally my brother just said, “If it’s gonna be square anyway, why don’t we just make a dump truck?”

We couldn’t hinge the back door so his dump truck became an open-top garbage hauler, complete with miniature black trash bags we fashioned from squares of a lawn disposal bag, stuffed with the ends of q-tips and melted shut. He won a trophy for “Most Original Concept.” He still has the car at home on his desk, though I think the bags are long gone.

I think horsies are better.

Kate — Your nephew likes garbage trucks specifically? That’s so cute.