Can M mow?

M decided he wanted to try to mow the lawn. Hurrah, think I. But can he? I think he is motivated by the idea that we would pay him to mow. So, this afternoon, we all went out and picked up sweetgum balls. They are everywhere! Even though I have raked the yard (at least that part) twice this spring, it took no time at all to pick up several buckets full of those pesky prickly balls. I just went looking for a photo of sweetgum balls - I can't believe people will actually buy them!
Then I also found a tool for picking them up - without bending over. Looks interesting. A bit pricy, but definitely interesting. I wish I could try one out.
Anyway, once we got done with picking up those pesky things, it was time to pull out the mower. Not surprisingly, M couldn't start it. I remember I could mow for a long time before I could start our mower as a kid. So, I gave a bit of a safety lesson and started it up. I pushed along with M for a bit, especially as we went up the front yard. Pushing uphill was a bit difficult, so we did some side-to-side mowing. Here's M turning the mower around.

And then trying to get it going in the next direction.

I don't know if it will be easier with practice - or when its not the first mowing of the season, but for now, this is not working so well. M is still interested, though, so we will try again. We will also try out my mom's self-propelled mower. Yes, ours is just a plain jane human powered gas mower.