Ice Cream Truck

When I was a kid, I remember seeing TV shows or movies where kids would hear the playful music of an ice-cream truck and they'd all become so excited and go running out to meet the truck. I always thought how wonderful it must be to live in a place where ice cream was brought to you daily. When we were building our current home, one day I heard that tell-tale music driving by our house. I couldn't believe it! My kids were going to grow up on a street where an ice cream truck visited all summer long!

My kids were just as excited as I expected them to be by the ice cream truck. I quickly learnt though, that it's not nearly as exciting as a parent. Those trucks have a way of coming by just as your making dinner. Or we'd take the kids out for ice cream, and minutes after pulling into our driveway, the truck would come by. Children just do not understand that sometimes it's ok to say no to ice cream. If the truck is here, we must buy. For a short amount of time, we actually had two competing trucks coming through our neighborhood. When the first one came through, my kids wanted to buy from it because who knew if the second would show up that day. And when the second came by later in the day, my kids thought we really should buy from that one too. It's only fair, after all.

However, it really is quite special to live in a neighborhood where ice cream is brought by your house on a regular basis. Ice cream trucks sell all the cool ice cream you cannot get in stores. Ice cream shaped like characters from your favorite shows. Ice cream that has gum balls for eyes. Ice cream that turns your tongue, lips and hands a different color for hours, sometimes days.

This past summer was the first one where CamCam understood the ice cream truck was his gateway to wonderful, tasty treats. After two visits he, too, understood the music drifting through our open window meant ice cream was nearby. My hardest part with him was getting him to stop running out without me. As soon as he heard the music, he'd start yelling "i-eam, i-eam, i-eam!!" and go running for the door. At the beginning of the summer he still had a hard time opening the front door by himself, but luckily he had his almost 4 year old big brother to help him out with that. By mid-summer, he didn't need any help opening the front door.

We'd stand at the end of our driveway waiting for the truck to make the loop and come back around by our house. My older two calmly waited, but the little two were just balls of excitement. The excitement built the closer the truck came. They yelled their excited ice cream chant, which got louder and louder as the anticipation built. CamCam would bounce up and down so hard, I had to keep one arm around him because at any moment I knew he wouldn't be able to take waiting any longer and would run off down the street. Once the truck stopped in front of our house, the two loudly yelled "yaaaaaayyyyyy" and clapped and clapped for the truck.

Now came decision time. CamCam usually just picked whatever "Mr. Trouble" chose. Which was good, because if they didn't have the same thing, you just know that once the truck left they each were going to want what the other had, but neither would want to give up theirs. They were practically ready to explode from excitement while they waited for me to open the packages. I handed them each their treat, and it was FINALLY time to eat! I think more of CamCam's ice cream ended up on his shirt then in his mouth. He sure did enjoy it though!

We have a long time to wait before next summer, but I cannot wait for the first time of the season when we hear the whimsical music floating though the air. It's so much fun to see the kids get so excited!

His cheeks and hands were pink for three days from this one!