The sound of the kids running around after breakfast abruptly came to a stop. They all stood frozen at the sliding glass door watching a massive metal beast move through the trees behind our house. A loud screeching sound filled the air as the neck of the beast lifted earth in its giant bucket mouth.

“What is that, Dad?” asked my five year old daughter.

The massive metal beast was an excavator being used to build a new neighborhood going in behind our house. Rather than telling the kids the name of the machine, I thought I would have some fun with them.

“It’s a dinosaur,” I answered with a smile.

My nine-year-old son and five-year-old daughter laughed, shaking their heads. My one-and-a-half-year-old daughter didn’t have the same reaction. The concerned look on her face told a different story.

“Dinosaur, Dad-Da,” my daughter hesitantly said as her tiny finger pointed toward the trees.

“Where?” I asked.

“There,” she replied, “dinosaur there.”

My other kids thought it would be fun to chime in.

“What does a dinosaur say?” my son asked as he knelt down to my toddler’s level and pointed outside.

“Dinosaur,” my toddler replied. “ROAR,” she growled doing best dinosaur impression.

My five-year-old daughter opened the sliding glass door and walked onto our deck so she could get a closer look. My toddler followed her outside. They both walked to the deck rails and looked toward the ‘dinosaur’ in the trees.

“Look, the dinosaur is so big,” said my five-year-old, pointing toward the trees.

“Dinosaur,” my toddler said softly. She then yelled in a high pitched, concerned voice, “OH NO!!”

My son and I walked onto the deck as my toddler again screamed, “Dinosaur, OH NO!!!

We all laughed. Everyone except my toddler who was still very serious, refusing to take her eyes off the massive beast. Just in case it decided to come into our yard.

It’s fun, priceless moments like this that makes all my time winging it at home so worth it.