Current Obsessions (Toddler Edition)

I once saw posted online the conversation question: "If your child's future career was determined by their current obsession, what would it be?"

This hypothetical amused me greatly, and Cyrus's potential careers popped into mind immediately, as he is certainly a toddler with passions.

Potential Career #1: Janitor/Housecleaner/Sanitation Worker

Cyrus's love for cleaning supplies is still going strong. Brooms, mops, buckets, dustpans, and the vacuum. The one legit temper tantrum he's thrown yet was because Angel took the vacuum away.

The brooms and dustpan we normally let him play with--he'll make a beeline for the kitchen when he wakes up in the morning, grab both brooms and sometimes will rope me into helping him carry two brooms and the dustpan out into the larger area of the apartment. 

He's learned that loose hair tends to collect in one certain corner of my bedroom, and now daily leads me to that corner so that I can assist him with sweeping up the hair. He does try to do it by himself, but he's learned that he's not quite as efficient as actually getting dust into the dustpan as Mommy is, so has very clearly delegated that particular sweeping task to me, and then he carries the dustpan back to the kitchen trashcan and dumps it in (a 'trick' Angel taught him). 

Maybe before too long we'll be appreciating his dedication to cleaning supplies, though in the meantime, every time he smiles at cleaning staff in various public areas we visit, the cleaning staff feel happy and tell me he's so cute...meanwhile, I'm just restraining him, nervous he's going to make a lunge for their broom or mop. So far we've avoided any theft of cleaning supplies or high-speed chases through the mall, but I see the look of sheer joy in his eyes when he sees the staff members cleaning floors and I know he's just longing to get elbow-deep in that bucket of soapy water.

I also wouldn't generally say he's obsessed with neatness...he loves dumping his container of blocks on the floor and happily digs himself into the sand at the beach and loves running through grass and dirt...but sweeping is a passion all of its own, I've learned, as he's begun to lead me through the house more often, pointing at small things on the ground and asking me to sweep them up so that he can dump them into the trash can.

The vacuums we use here are very small and light, nearly the size of what might be sold as a toy vacuum in the USA, so he can handle them easily. If he finds the vacuum at school, he'll push it around the classrooms for an hour before tiring of the game. One day, my sisters hid the vacuum before Cyrus arrived, but without much effect, because he found it after a five minute search. My Dad, on the other hand, came into the classroom later in the day and spent a great deal of time searching for the vacuum before deciding that someone must have taken it away. This is the difference that passion makes.

Potential Career #2: Bird Watcher/Bird Finder/What is the name of a career that has something to do with bird observation?

"Bee" or "Bees" or "Baby" is, we've learned, his term for birds. He often wakes up from nap, immediately points in the direction of the balcony door, and says "Bee! Baby!"...meaning that he wants to go look for birds. He notices bird calls/noises very easily, and even I've begun to notice how often you can hear bird calls from our house, now that I've realized that they are the reason Cyrus will take off running for the balcony door. While riding in his carseat, he will notice and point out birds lounging on electric lines or flying past the road. He's attempted to chase small birds at the beach and the park but they always stay out of his reach. "Bees" are a great love. We still only allow very occasional screen time, but he's even tuned into birds on screen. My family was watching Voyage of the Dawn Treader when suddenly I noticed Cyrus getting very excited, pointing at the screen, saying, "Bee!" There was a bird on the screen.

Potential Career #3: Shoe Salesman

"Shoes" is probably his first, clearest word that is actually used to communicate meaning and sounds like proper English. He loves shoes. He loves them because when he puts his shoes on he gets to go outside, but he also loves the very idea of them. He will put on anyone's shoes, he will watch people put on their shoes, and he will put shoes on other people's feet. He has located all of the shoes in our house, including Angel's prized leather dress shoes that are kept in a wardrobe and not used often.

Some of our neighbors store their shoes in the apartment hallway and it's been quite a lesson in teaching self-control to consistently make sure he knows that he CANNOT try on his neighbors' shoes.

Bonus Job: Luchador?

Cyrus likes storytime in general, but he LOVES this book, "Niño Wrestles the World." Angel even put an audio track of the story being read aloud in our "Cyrus Soundtrack" for our car.

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I've always said I want him to grow up to be an accountant. For the sheer practical reason that there's no accountants in my immediate family and I feel like that would be a convenient set of skills to have in the family. But thus far I'm not seeing a whole lot of excitement for numbers. What might your child's future career be if it were determined by their current passions?