A 20 Minute Conversation about El Toro Loco

This evening, my just-over-2 year old couldn't get to sleep. He had something very important on his mind that he needed to talk with me about: El Toro Loco.

You see, my son has somehow gotten into Monster Trucks. They are the absolute coolest thing to him right now. Saturday night, while Ashley had a girls' night out, I gave him a new Monster Truck set to play with. And we did. For just about 3 hours straight. We had a brief break for a bath, which ended early because he was ready to play with his Monster Trucks again.

He owns three, but on Sunday he discovered El Toro Loco. And now, it is quite literally the only thing he wants to talk about.

As it was time for bed, we read stories, sang songs... but he wasn't done. He needed more time to talk about El Toro Loco. And it was amazing. It was a full, complete, understandable conversation. When you have a toddler, you get to talk, you get to find out what your kid needs, you understand each other. But this... this was a full conversation on one topic for about 20 minutes or so.

He explained to me very many times that he wanted El Toro Loco. That he would get rid of Grave Digger and Max-D to have El Toro Loco. That El Toro Loco was special to him.

We used our conversation to think about how many tires El Toro Loco has and how many horns he has. And how cool his teeth are.

He even learned about languages, and how El Toro Loco means the crazy bull. He thought I said bowl, at first, and he got really excited about a bowl of pizza with horns. Once he realized that a bull growled, he started roaring over and over again.

He let me know that he would open El Toro Loco at his birthday (which isn't until October) and then he and mommy would play with it (I, apparently, do not get to play with El Toro Loco). He said that people would sing the birthday song to him and they would all be holding an El Toro Loco.

It's so hard for me, as a dad, to know what to do. I want to shower my son with gifts but not spoil him. I want to give him everything he asks for, but I know not everything is beneficial - nor can we afford it all. I don't how to explain to him that he just got toys on Saturday and it's only Monday... when El Toro Loco is all he wants.

I'm so glad his birthday is so far away... else I'd be planning on him having an El Toro Loco cake, getting him a signed poster, and buying little El Toro Locos for everyone to take home. To see him so excited and so passionate about something... oh. It's amazing to be a dad and discover what makes your child light up.

I never would have guessed I'd be having real, exciting conversations about Monster Trucks. The fact that I was having a full conversation with my son... that alone is mind blowing enough. What an amazing, wonderful thing it is to just listen and hear your child talk, think, and be excited. Even if it is just about El Toro Loco.