Ryan’s Story

[MarineHawk]

I’ve always loved the Hummer concept since I first drove a HMMWV in 1990. When my almost 2-yr old son, Ryan, was about 10 months old, I bought him a 6”-long Military Hummer toy. He loved it more than his other toys for some reason. He got more Hummer toys soon. His 7th word at about 1 yr was "Hummer" – following only mama, dada, nana, “bubba” (Buddy the dog), and a couple others (of course, Hummer is an easy word to enunciate). He became downright obsessed with Hummers. What I find interesting is that he used the term dozens of times per day, yet rarely ever used the term incorrectly. A few times, he called Jeeps “Hummers,” but by about age 15 months, he started calling them “little Hummers.” Soon thereafter, he dropped the habit altogether and learned the word “Jeep.” Since then, he points them out somewhat indifferently, but never calls them “Hummer” any more, reserving the term for the real thing. When he was 16 months old, my mother in law was driving to Costco and took Ryan to the Moore Cadillac Hummer dealership, where I recently bought mine, and let him look around. It was raining. So, she just let him look out of the window at all of the H2s and H3s. A salesman came up to her window and asked if he could help her. She said “no, I’m just showing my grandson some Hummers since he really loves them.” Shedding his usual shyness in front of strangers, Ryan started chanting “Hummer! Hummer! Hummer! …” as he pointed at several of them. The salesman was startled by such emphatic brand-name recognition from such a tiny toddler who obviously had a very limited vocabulary. He thought it was so cool that he told my mother in law to wait, went in the dealership, and brought out a Yellow Hummer H2 toy for him to keep. He slept with it for weeks. For a long time, he has often wanted to sit in my lap and watch Hummer videos on the "puter" in the office (we watched this one a hundred times: [url=http://www.lynchhummer.com/videos/lynch.fullline.mov]. More recently, we’ve watched the Moab and other Hummer videos on the "puter," and then Ryan tries to duplicate the rock climbing with his toys.
When I brought my H2 home from the dealer on Thursday night, he had been prepared for it by my wife and M-I-L, and he went gaga. After about an hour of driving him around and letting him pretend drive, it was way past his bedtime. He threw the saddest and most pathetic fit he's thrown in months after we, as diplomatically as possible, ripped him out of the driver’s seat and closed the truck door. After we took him inside, he kept trying to open the front door, desperately crying "Dada, Hummer; Dada, Hummer." To get him to calm down, we had to tell him about 50 times that it would be there tomorrow, and the day after, etc, we would drive around all weekend, and that it would be his one day. My wife said that his 1st words the next morning were “dada, black Hummer; dada, black Hummer.” My family has really been amused by our favorite young toddler’s obsession. Of course, now he thinks I’m Emperor of the World. No small benefit of Hummer ownership.

[MarineHawk]

I’ve always loved the Hummer concept since I first drove a HMMWV in 1990. When my almost 2-yr old son, Ryan, was about 10 months old, I bought him a 6”-long Military Hummer toy. He loved it more than his other toys for some reason. He got more Hummer toys soon. His 7th word at about 1 yr was "Hummer" – following only mama, dada, nana, “bubba” (Buddy the dog), and a couple others (of course, Hummer is an easy word to enunciate). He became downright obsessed with Hummers. What I find interesting is that he used the term dozens of times per day, yet rarely ever used the term incorrectly. A few times, he called Jeeps “Hummers,” but by about age 15 months, he started calling them “little Hummers.” Soon thereafter, he dropped the habit altogether and learned the word “Jeep.” Since then, he points them out somewhat indifferently, but never calls them “Hummer” any more, reserving the term for the real thing. When he was 16 months old, my mother in law was driving to Costco and took Ryan to the Moore Cadillac Hummer dealership, where I recently bought mine, and let him look around. It was raining. So, she just let him look out of the window at all of the H2s and H3s. A salesman came up to her window and asked if he could help her. She said “no, I’m just showing my grandson some Hummers since he really loves them.” Shedding his usual shyness in front of strangers, Ryan started chanting “Hummer! Hummer! Hummer! …” as he pointed at several of them. The salesman was startled by such emphatic brand-name recognition from such a tiny toddler who obviously had a very limited vocabulary. He thought it was so cool that he told my mother in law to wait, went in the dealership, and brought out a Yellow Hummer H2 toy for him to keep. He slept with it for weeks. For a long time, he has often wanted to sit in my lap and watch Hummer videos on the "puter" in the office (we watched this one a hundred times: [url=http://www.lynchhummer.com/videos/lynch.fullline.mov]. More recently, we’ve watched the Moab and other Hummer videos on the "puter," and then Ryan tries to duplicate the rock climbing with his toys.
When I brought my H2 home from the dealer on Thursday night, he had been prepared for it by my wife and M-I-L, and he went gaga. After about an hour of driving him around and letting him pretend drive, it was way past his bedtime. He threw the saddest and most pathetic fit he's thrown in months after we, as diplomatically as possible, ripped him out of the driver’s seat and closed the truck door. After we took him inside, he kept trying to open the front door, desperately crying "Dada, Hummer; Dada, Hummer." To get him to calm down, we had to tell him about 50 times that it would be there tomorrow, and the day after, etc, we would drive around all weekend, and that it would be his one day. My wife said that his 1st words the next morning were “dada, black Hummer; dada, black Hummer.” My family has really been amused by our favorite young toddler’s obsession. Of course, now he thinks I’m Emperor of the World. No small benefit of Hummer ownership.

[KenP]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by MarineHawk:
I’ve always loved the Hummer concept since I first drove a HMMWV in 1990. When my almost 2-yr old son, Ryan, was about 10 months old, I bought him a 6”-long Military Hummer toy. He loved it more than his other toys for some reason. He got more Hummer toys soon. His 7th word at about 1 yr was "Hummer" – following only mama, dada, nana, “bubba” (Buddy the dog), and a couple others (of course, Hummer is an easy word to enunciate). He became downright obsessed with Hummers. What I find interesting is that he used the term dozens of times per day, yet rarely ever used the term incorrectly. A few times, he called Jeeps “Hummers,” but by about age 15 months, he started calling them “little Hummers.” Soon thereafter, he dropped the habit altogether and learned the word “Jeep.” Since then, he points them out somewhat indifferently, but never calls them “Hummer” any more, reserving the term for the real thing. When he was 16 months old, my mother in law was driving to Costco and took Ryan to the Moore Cadillac Hummer dealership, where I recently bought mine, and let him look around. It was raining. So, she just let him look out of the window at all of the H2s and H3s. A salesman came up to her window and asked if he could help her. She said “no, I’m just showing my grandson some Hummers since he really loves them.” Shedding his usual shyness in front of strangers, Ryan started chanting “Hummer! Hummer! Hummer! …” as he pointed at several of them. The salesman was startled by such emphatic brand-name recognition from such a tiny toddler who obviously had a very limited vocabulary. He thought it was so cool that he told my mother in law to wait, went in the dealership, and brought out a Yellow Hummer H2 toy for him to keep. He slept with it for weeks. For a long time, he has often wanted to sit in my lap and watch Hummer videos on the "puter" in the office (we watched this one a hundred times: [url=http://www.lynchhummer.com/videos/lynch.fullline.mov]. More recently, we’ve watched the Moab and other Hummer videos on the "puter," and then Ryan tries to duplicate the rock climbing with his toys.
When I brought my H2 home from the dealer on Thursday night, he had been prepared for it by my wife and M-I-L, and he went gaga. After about an hour of driving him around and letting him pretend drive, it was way past his bedtime. He threw the saddest and most pathetic fit he's thrown in months after we, as diplomatically as possible, ripped him out of the driver’s seat and closed the truck door. After we took him inside, he kept trying to open the front door, desperately crying "Dada, Hummer; Dada, Hummer." To get him to calm down, we had to tell him about 50 times that it would be there tomorrow, and the day after, etc, we would drive around all weekend, and that it would be his one day. My wife said that his 1st words the next morning were “dada, black Hummer; dada, black Hummer.” My family has really been amused by our favorite young toddler’s obsession. Of course, now he thinks I’m Emperor of the World. No small benefit of Hummer ownership. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Ok, that takes the cake for the sweetest story I've ever heard on this forum.

Don't one of you joke me for saying "sweetest".

BTW, where's that pic of the cool looking boy taken?

[HIHUMMER]

OMG! That has to be the cutest story! My 4year old daughter calls my H3, "her yella truck", it's the cutest so I can relate! Thanks for sharing! Too cute!

[Alan06SUT]

That rocks! Sounds like a future hummer owner in the making.

[MarineHawk]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by KenP:
BTW, where's that pic of the cool looking boy taken? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was at Deep Creek, MD on New Years Day.

[KenP]

Look here.

[Bondage]

You're a good Dad. And Ken that WAS a "sweet" story. My girls LOVE the Hummers. They really think they are gonna get them as hand-me-downs for their first vehicles. LOL
NOT!

Sean

[frank6150]

pad

[drmiles]

Its amazing the bond that little boys have with the Hummer. My son now 3.5 years old, is in love with the Hummer brand. He has 20 different hummers, push, RC, Electric ride on. He has tshirts,caps and magazines. He insist on wearing his Hummer shirt everywhere, and I have to wear one as well. We sit and watch the videos evry night before bed. Sometimes I wonder if I have created monster, he is so obsessed with everything Hummer. but it's our thing, I hope it allows is to stay close through the teenage years. I love the fact that he loves to go offroading, even if we have to drive down the powerline road every night before we get home. It's important that we have things we can do together

http://elcova.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/2606011751/m/6...821007021#6821007021

[ROX]

Awwww! He's adorable! Kids are awesome! Even more awesome when they're gone with their Daddy all day.

[Dug]

He's a cute little bugger. But wait till he says Dad i need the keys.

[Dug]

I've got a kid story.
My oldest daughter who was 11yrs old at the time was the only one out of three kids who was totally against getting the hummer. She wanted us to get a suburban which was our regular ride until they started making H2's. After numerous night trips to the dealer we were all hooked on a H2 , but she was almost crying about it. We asked her what is the big deal , then she spilled the beans . She said when you drop me off at school (because there are no buses) the kids will make fun of me because its ugly. We promised to drop her off at the back door and she unwillingly agreed. So the first trip to school wifey takes her out to the back door. When we picked her up that afternoon she confessed to my wife that now she loved the H2 it is awesome. Well come to find out when she got to her class room all the boys were staring out the windows chanting Hummer, Hummer, Hummer and asking who has the hummer , who has the hummmer. Right then my daughter piped up "Oh thats my mother" .

[OrangeCrush]

Thanks for sharing the stories... those were great.

[Marcmedic]

My son just calls it "daddy's truck". Every time an H2 commercial comes on he starts screaming "Daddy's truck" and pointing at the TV. The other day my wife was at the grocery store and there just happened to be a white H2 (same color as mine) parked a few spots down from her. I guess he kind of came unglued because he thought I was in it and that my wife refused to allow him to see me. She said he was screaming, crying, and pointing at the truck wanting to see it and/or me. She had to bring him by the station to see me just to get him to calm down. Every time he goes out in the garage he has to touch the truck. If it hasn't been washed for a while, there are all these little finger trails down the side of it from where he walks by and runs his hand down it. Can't tell if I like it more than he does or not.

[H3HUMVEE]

I bought my H3 from More.. they are really good with there customer service.

[MarineHawk]

I'm not surprised that I'm not alone in having a child with a Hummer obsession. It really is surprising, with all the vehicles out there, there is not one other specific brand that attracts any significant amount of Ryan's attention. Sure, any really big truck draws his attention, but it quantitative, not qualitative. In other words, he likes the truck because it's really big; it doesn't matter if it's a Ford, Dodge, GM, whatever. On the other hand, he likes all of the 3 Hummers better than anything else, big or small. If an H3 drives near, he starts chanting "Hummer, Hummer, ..." and would not notice if a giant dump truck drove right by. I forgot to mention as part of the original story that, during the last year, about half a dozen times, we've been in public somewhere (usually at a restaurant)and an H2 parked near us; and when the people got out, he started chanting. The look on the adults' faces is priceless. It is usually some sort of mild shock, which evolves into a big smile (probably noting some combination of humor and pride).

[MarineHawk]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by H3HUMVEE:
I bought my H3 from More.. they are really good with there customer service. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good to hear. How long have you had it? Who sold it to you? They were originally a little shady about how much of a discount I could get with the GMID, but when I quoted them a number from Capitol Hummer, they honored it. They're installing my winch bumper on Tuesday.

[Adam in CO]

Same story at my house. My little boy won't go anywhere if we don't go in the Hummer. His Mom even had to drive it yesterday because I didn't want to go anywhere and he wouldn't go without being in the Hummer. It was the only way she could get him out the door.