My dad works two hours away from home, Monday through Friday. He lives there during the week, coming home Friday night through Monday morning each weekend. We miss him during the week. Jax is crazy for him. We call him "Grandpapa", to which Jax has called him, "Papa."
Usually my dad spends some time in the yard each weekend. Repairing sprinklers, fertilizing the grass, treating weeds, and mowing, always mowing this large 1/4 acre lot. Jax can't get enough of Papa mowing the yard. I can sit him in his high chair out on the porch, and he will watch, transfixed.
"Papa! Mo-mo!" (mower). "Papa! Mow-wing!"
If any of our neighbors mows our yard during the week, Jax will not rest until I take him outside. He insists that Papa has come home early.
"Papa! Mo-mo! Side!" (outside). "Side! Papa! Side! Mo-mo!" until I take him outside to prove to him sadly, that it is not Papa, but a neighbor.
My uses a large red riding lawn mower to cover the property more quickly, and uses the broad-brimmed straw hat shown in the photos. We've been out and about, and seen a gardener mowing the side of the road with riding mowers, and they usually wear hats too. "Papa! Mowing!" He won't take "no, it's not Papa" for an answer, and repeats himself endlessly until we manage to distract him away from the man that is mowing that is not Papa.
My dad loves to play with Jax, and Jax adores his Papa. They truly delight in each other.
Today, my mom was playing with Jax with the vintage Fisher Price barn / farm set that me and my sisters had as a kid. There is a red tractor in the set that looks almost identical to the riding lawn mower my dad uses. And there is a man wearing a cowboy hat. My mom showed Jax how to pretend that the man and the tractor were Papa and the mower. I left the house shortly after to run errands, and Jax wanted to take Papa and the Mower with us. He played with them happily in the car, making mowing sounds, and repeating "papa! mowing!" periodically.
