Road Construction Brings Smiles, Joy To Robbinsdale Family
ROBBINSDALE, Minn. (WCCO) -- There is just no getting around it -- road construction can be a real pain.
But if you ask one Robbinsdale family, it is providing the highlight of their summer.
Matt and Emily Barbero's 2-and-a-half-year-old son is mesmerized by all the digging and dumping in his normally quiet neighborhood.
It is sort of like having his very own "Bob the Builder" show right outside the front door.
Maybe it began on the pages of so many children's books -- our early fascination with trains, trucks or heavy machinery.
But for little Zigmond "Ziggy" Barbero, it jumped from paper to the pavement outside his home.
"Something connects with trucks," Emily said.
The Barberos noticed their son's obsession as he stood at the living room window, staring at the passing trucks outside.
It was an encouraging sign to the young parents, given that Ziggy was born weeks premature, something that left him with the brain disease known as encephalopathy.
"It means basically that he has a brain injury," Emily said.
But ever since the construction began this spring, Ziggy wants to sit on his front lawn for hours at a time. He is often seen by construction workers waving at them as he soaks in the rumble and the roar.
Excavator operator Scott Oknick says the little boy is there every morning.
"He's always happy. It's fun to see someone every morning that was super happy to see you even though you're going to work," Oknick said.
That is a far cry from the many months Ziggy and his parents spent in the hospital, along with the constant follow-up care he still receives.
"He does physical therapy, occupational therapy, language therapy. We have school districts coming out to our house once a week, so it's been a lot," Emily said.
But the unexpected came early Wednesday morning with a knock on the front door. A burly construction worker revealed his softer side, in a gesture to give something back.
"I had a little die-cast excavator sitting at home, and I gave it to [Ziggy]," Oknick said.
Matt and Emily call it the best summer ever -- a therapy no hospital could ever match.
"He gets real-life application in a giant dirt pit with trucks in his front yard," Emily said.
Ziggy also started walking recently, and his parents are overjoyed with seeing their true little boy emerge with such excitement.