Working Men

“He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” ~ Clarence Budington Kelland

I’ve often told Tyler that he has to carefully watch his actions because he has a set of little eyes that examine his every move. And by watching his Daddy’s every move, Jeffrey has learned to be a hard working little man.

In order to earn a Nintendo DS, Jeffrey had to fill in a 125 box chore chart. To be able to fill in a box, he had to complete one chore. His chores included shoveling snow, picking up the toy room, getting laundry out of the dryer and laying it flat on the couch, putting clothes from the washer to the dryer, putting dishes away, loading the dishwasher, and vacuuming the kitchen. He had a lot of practice with housework over the winter and now is awesome at doing his chores.

Jeffrey takes branding very seriously each spring. He wants to get up early and head out with Papa Dale and Daddy to help round up the cows and then loves to have a job during the day. Jeffrey gets just as tired and dirty as the “big boys”.

While getting ready for a barbeque this spring, Jeffrey did everything to get the yard ready except mow the grass. He pulled (and pulled and pulled) weeds from the fire pit, moved and set up chairs, helped pot flowers, water flower beds, and got the drinks and ice packed in the coolers and set out on the deck. His excitement for the barbeque and his work ethic made him want to keep doing more.

Now, Jeffrey’s favorite thing to do is not play with his toys, go to the pool, or ride his bike. Nope, Jeffrey’s favorite thing to do is to work with his Papa Dale. Jeffrey loves getting to help his Papa bale and haul hay, move irrigation pumps, work on the combine, and irrigate. While Anny and I were in Minot dropping Macy off with Grandma Robyn, Papa decided that if Jeffrey was going to properly help irrigate that they should run to town to get Jeffrey his own pair of irrigating boots (of course, they made a stop at Dairy Queen on the way home…that’s their tradition). Jeffrey is so proud of those boots.

My favorite little working man story is this one: While driving to Williston one afternoon, Tyler and I were talking about how nice it would be to be able to retire young, like my parents. Tyler mentioned that he’ll probably never retire because he’ll be farming on his own by then. I mentioned that Tyler would be able to trust Jeffrey and let him do the farm work and turned around and asked Jeffrey, “Do you want to work for your Daddy some day?” Right on top of his game Jeffrey answered, “No, I want him to work for me.”