Why Can't Lego Click?

You know your sons a Lego Maniac when you go to give him a kiss goodnight... after he is supposed to be IN bed mind you, and find him on the floor putting together his new Lego set. That's right, for a while now he no longer waits for me to help him open the box, cut open the bags, unfold in the instructions "just so" and start sorting the pieces. He is proficient enough that he just dives in himself.

Awsumb began his obsession with Legos way before he even knew they were Legos. Kenneth and I worked hard to acquire some really great Duplo sets when he was a toddler. At the time Lego was going through some changes and there wasn’t much available other than the basic Duplo Bucket (Legos’s toddler version of their famous bricks, not to be confused with Megablocks or other such copy cats). We were lucky enough to score some great sets at a toy liquidator and of course the Bob the Builder sets came around just in time for his Bob the Builder stage.

Then sometime after his 4th birthday a friend gave him his first real Lego set. It was a small set with only about 10 steps to build a simple race car. Awsumb followed the instructions putting the set together, taking it apart, over and over again. Not yet being the Lego connoisseur I have now become, I asked my friend where to get simple small sets. I found Lego offered quite a few small sets… The first ones we started buying were of these little Knights that fans often refered to as the 'Rainbow Knight' collection. The Knight’s Kingdom collection was simple and sweet, each knight donning his unique color, thus many Lego fans regarded them as childish. The Lego website had some really great stories about these little Knights and especially one young, but fast Knight who learns and grows and becomes King. Awsumb was hooked for life!

The Legos that I had been stuffing in Kenneth’s stockings for years came home from the office to live at our house and Legos basically became part of the family budget! I called Lego parts department and was able to acquire all the little characters from the Knights set that he had grown to love (TIP- The parts department can be your best friend!) By the time Awsumb was 5 or 6 he was putting together pretty complicated sets. If the set was a large one we often helped him find the pieces or snap the pieces together a bit more tightly for him. Then over the years he took over most of the Lego building in our house.

Right away I began to have puzzling questions about Legos... How they should be played with, stored, etc. When I was a child we had one or two basic boxed sets. I am not sure they even came with any more instructions that a few suggested things to build on the box. The sets came with some wheels, minifigs and a few specialty pieces, but were pretty basic sets… what you decided to build was completely up to you. I quickly realized this wasn’t how Legos were these days. Legos came in sets… Branded Sets. Besides the original stories Lego was coming up with they had Star Wars and other popular characters. And of course those were the sets that Awsumb wanted.

This of course meant that one set was meant to build one or two specific things. Being the perfectly organized person that I have to be, I was struggling trying to figure out if I should be letting him 'free build' with all these cool sets, or keeping them all segregated to individual ziplock bags with their individual instructions. What I realized was that in the end that segregation was not fair. BUT I couldn’t have the little cute Rainbow Knights mixing with the Star Wars or other characters either! What was I supposed to do with this organizing dilemma?

I came across this article and it helped me understand where some of my anxiety was coming from. Click here to read Why Lego’s Can’t Click. Yes, Legos sets were a complicated issue. Thus a new decree was declared in our house… “Lego sets must first be built to the instruction booklet specification.” Then they would become part of a free build bucket… still segregated to their themes of course!

And this is how we came to build the wall that is now A Lego Bucket Wall in Awsumb’s room. (No, I won’t show you a photo!). Awsumb has one or more buckets for each theme: City, Knights, Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones, Racers, etc. Each theme is allowed out one at a time (thus proper segregation!). And the original instructions are filed perfectly away for future rebuilds (which does happen from time to time). But for the most part once the suggestion ship or car is completed it is cannibalized to become a new creation.

An additional tip is that when we reached the point that Awsumb’s Lego creations were displayed and being played with all over the family room I couldn’t take it anymore! So, I bought a train table, which turned out to be perfect because the raised edges keep the tiny pieces from falling on the floor. And finally we had a Lego Creation Studio right in our own family room! Do Legos still end up on the floor? Sometimes, but I always threaten with the vacuum and that seems to work!

You know you have OCD when...

You find yourself on your hands and knees HAND scrubbing the garage floor at 1:00am. Yes, I was really just outside doing just that. O.K., I didn’t really scrub the whole thing, just a small section. I dropped a can of Fresca that I was taking to the recycling… that must not have been rinsed out all the way and still had enough sticky soda in it to cause me to worry that it might attract ants or something worse.

My first thought was to get the hose. But I didn’t want to open the big garage door and deal with the cold water while in my night shirt. Could the problem wait until morning to be sprayed out with the hose? Not for me! I could have left it for Kenneth to clean up, but I knew I would do a better job. SO, there I was scrubbing the garage floor on my hands and knees.

The way you know you truly have OCD is that you cannot stop yourself. As I said before I was able to control myself and only scrub a small section. However, that led me to think about a few other things that needed to be neatened up in the garage. Like the slip ‘n slide, that obviously isn’t going to be used again this summer. In the Northwest it takes forever for things to dry out, so here it’s been stretched out across the pitch-back and soccer net for weeks drying out… Until I declare it dry enough to safely fold up and store away so it won’t mold over the long rainy months of winter.

Then I decide I just have to neaten up a few of Awsumb’s toys that weren’t put away “ just so” and next thing you know I am organizing the freezer… STANDING on the freezing cold FILTHY garage floor mind you! (there’s no getting around it, no matter how much we sweep and hose out the garage floor it’s just always black and icky… maybe I really should scrub the whole things on my hands and knees?) Anyway, back to the freezer, so there I am taking an inventory of what I have out there. Remembering that I still have a whole turkey that I meant to turn into A Totally Awsumb Summer Thanksgiving that never happened. And wondering why I have so many Otter-Pops, when no one around here really cares for them. And as I begin to restack the TV Dinners so the labels all line up I think, “What am I doing out here!”

That’s when you know you have OCD!

Update... you really know you have OCD when 3 hours later you find yourself updating your blog to say that the garage floor incident has thrown you into a cleaning frenzy and you lost track of the time while you were sorting through all sorts of other things in the house. Now I have stacks of things all packed up and ready to go to various places such as friends, donations, garbage, etc. Guess I have some errands to run tomorrow.

Anatomy of a Gummy Bear

When did Gummy Bears become a food group? Since I have been a parent these 8 years I have not been able to understand the concept of Fruit Snacks? I see people regularly include these in their child's meal and count it as a "fruit" or feed them to their toddler thinking they are providing a nutritional snack.

Do they realize they are just feeding them Gummy Bears? Would they just give them a bag of Gummy Bears? I don't think so... but if Kellogg's puts it in a cute shape and calls them "Fruit Snacks" all of a suddent they are O.K.? I feel like this is just one more way our kids don't understand where our food comes from, or even what it is.

Let's compare their nutritional value. First lets start with the serving size. A bag of basic Gummy Bears claims 22, while Fruit Snacks have limited the package size to 10. So, for this comparision I cut the serving size of the Gummy Bears in half.

Gummy Bears / Fruit Snacks
Calories 75 / 80
Carbs 17g / 21g
Sugars 11g / 14g
Protein 1.5 / 0

Seems clear to me. What's the difference? At least with true gummy bears you get a bit of protein, probably from the geletin? OH, I admit I am leaving out the 100% daily dose of Vitamin C that is included in Fruit Snacks and not in Gummy Bears? It still doesn't make sense to me. Especially when Gummy Bears on high on the list of dental "No, No's" .... AND have you ever eaten a Fruit Snack? They are gross, their texture is all wrong. I am not even a candy person, but Gummy Bears are much more pleasurable. So why does every grocery store have an entire 3-4 foot Fruit Snack display?

Have I ever purchased Fruit Snacks? Yes, to go along with a party theme as a treat! Join me and next time buy GUMMY BEARS instead!

Just a rant I have been dying to share since he was first served Fruit Snacks in his Church Nursery Class. And I was reminded of this when I served my son some Haribo Gummy Frogs as a treat during his living room camp out today!

To see more fun work by Jason Freeny click here...

Flip Flop Fly Ball

One of my big pet peeves is baseball hats with the tags and stickers still on them. I don't get it? What is it supposed to prove? That it's new? That it's hot off the rack? To insinuate that it might be stolen?

And what about when the sticker/tag gets all yucky. You never see one that doesn't look brand new? Do they take it off then? I don't really think so because it seems like the sticker is even more stickier than it used to be!?! Which means when Kenneth and Awsumb get new hats even though I remove the sticker immediately there is still just enough residue or something left that you can still see where the sticker was. Annoying!

It's just so stupid to me. I think about it all the time. Kenneth forwarded this website to me. I might just print this out and take it to the ballpark tomorrow night! LOL!

Follow the link to check out other fun posters

Pool Rules

In the summer if we aren't at the ballpark you can find us at the pool. We have to drag Kenneth kicking and screaming, but Awsumb and I love it. Our neighborhood pool can be pretty full on a really hot day, but other than that it's often just us. And the neighborhood pool then becomes our private hangout for the afternoon or evening. Summer nights at the pool, surrounded by pine trees with a full moon is the best! I simply love it! I could back float all night long with the sweet smell of fresh pine (and a little chlorine, which I secretly love the smell of).

Small brag - Awsumb is doing so great this year and I officially trust him with me in or out of the water with no floaties! I think months of lessons in a row this spring really paid off.

Anyway, so we are at the pool today and I was reading the Pool Rules sign and noticed it says, "No Horseplay." Ok, so I have heard this phrase a lot and I know what it means... but why HORSE play? Why not NO Hyena Play? Or NO Crazy Monkey Play? I don't get it. What did horses ever do wrong... and have you ever seen a horse play? I guess a pool full of horses would be a nightmare... but I still don't get it.

Anyone? Anyone?

The Family: America’s Smallest School

As the beginning of a new school year approaches I find myself pondering about my own choices to educate my child and recommitting myself to the decision we have made. It has been a great sacrifice to send Awsumb to the school he attends and I won't go into the specifics today. The reason for this post is to remind us all that...

"For the Opportunity to Thrive to be realized, and for us as a nation to reach the ambitious educational goals that we have set for ourselves, we must keep clear in our minds that our family is our first and smallest school." -Marc H. Morial

I recently finished reading The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner. Kenneth listened to this educator and father speak a few months ago. He reminds us that when we were growing up our parents told us to finish our dinner because children were starving in ____ (name the place). But today we need to tell our children to finish their math homework because children in India and other places are studying harder than ever.

Our schools are failing. Our schools have changed very little over the past 50 to 100 years. We are still teaching children to be ready for a 1950’s work environment. A basic professional job in the 50’s required an employee to obey their boss and follow directions. Things are different today. Children today need to graduate ready to succeed in college. (a rant for another day). When they hit the workplace, they will need to have critical thinking and problem solving skills, they will need to know how to work in groups with people that may be located all over the world. They will also need to know how to research and sift through a plethora of information and find the relevant, truthful info to complete tasks. I can’t wait to discuss more about this with you…

But, however outraged I might become about what it NOT happening in our schools I always remind myself that it all begins at home. The reason so many charter or choice schools look like good on paper has little to do with the method of teaching or even the teachers. What sets these schools apart is parent involvement. Of course if you group all the kids who have parent support at home they will do well!

I often rant that most all the problems in the world can only be solved if we start with the family. Social, financial, are among these, but especially education. Our country will never pull ahead and begin to change things if we don’t first start in our families. And this means first putting a value on the family unit. The importance of having a mother and a father. The importance of a regular family schedule. The importance of having parents AT HOME. The importance of creating a stimulating environment in the home full of books and free play time. The importance of parents as examples, reading to their child and continuing their own education, formal or informal.

This does not mean taking children out of their homes earlier and earlier as previous programs such as No Child Left Behind. It means teaching families and parents to value education. Kenneth and I listened to An American Life the other day about Baby College in a poor neighborhood. While the program may seem obvious to those raised in middle or upper class families it was amazing to hear the parents realize that not beating their kids and using positive forms of discipline might actually make life easier in the long run… Or for them to realize the importance of reading to their child, talking to them, using real words, spending time with them… These are things that no school program can give a child. We now know that those early developmental years and most important. More than any programs that we can come up with for kids that age. We need programs for the parents of the kids that age!

Follow this link to read more about The Family: America's Smallest School

Whatever the educational options you might have for your child, what you do in your home means more than anything. Continuing to read to your children, guiding them as they research their interests, providing stimulating imagination and play time and most important showing them the value you place on education are a great start. Whether we realize it or not, we are all homeschooling our children!

I Would Die For That

I am not sure how to add video directly into my blog.I know it's been around a while. And I really don't like country music (this song really pushes the limit for me). But I was reminded of this song recently. SO... This is for anyone who has struggled with fertility issues...

I Would Die For That

or copy and paste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfGqOx2iDQ

Pete and Repeat

Pete and Repeat were walking across the bridge.
Pete fell in... who was left?

Answer: Repeat!

Pete and Repeat were walking across the bridge. Pete fell in...

We used to love this joke as kids. Along with other repetitive antics, like Dad throwing us onto his bed and telling us to get OFF his bed. Of course because we were smaller and giggling it took all our strength to try to get up. And then, right when we were about to get up, he would toss us back onto the bed. Why are repetitive jokes and games so fun for kids? They know what it coming next… Why does a baby think it’s so funny when you say “beep, beep, beep” while you tap from their belly right up to their nose…. over and over again? I remember reading in a child development book that knowing what was coming next was what was so great for babies. They found comfort in knowing the game. Babies love peek a boo. They get to feel a bit of danger and worry when you hide your face, but are all squeals when they find you were really still there all along. And does it even matter if the end isn’t all funny by itself? No.

Living with OCD on a daily basis I have learned to love and hate the repeat. Repetitive Rituals can be comforting and calm me down. A person living with OCD learns to live with and even love many of the tics you have because there is always that hope they are going to make you feel better. But they can also throw me into a downward spin and make me totally loose it. There are certain checking routines that will trigger a mudslide of other checking routines and of course this always happens when I am running late.

And when you live with OCD EVERYTHING repeats. Not just the repetitive rituals and counting, but tunes, conversations you had with people (I still replay converstions I had with various people from 15-20 years ago!) It’s like Ground Hogs day. Well, I can’t say for sure, I never saw that movie.

There are so many things I take comfort in doing, saying, counting, over and over again and then there are the things that drive me insane if I have to hear or think about them one more time. I would be happy listening to the same song over and over. In fact if I have control over it, I almost always repeat a song I like at least once and would be happy with repeating it 5 or 6 times. I also have an annoying way of listening to a new CD… I listen to my favorite song (ya know the one you bought the CD for in the first place) 5 or 6 times, then I listen to the first 20 seconds or so of all the songs and then go back to my “favorite song.” It drives Kenneth up the wall.

I have the same problem at restaurants. I love to order the same foods over and over. Even if I have had many different things on the menu that I know I love just as much, I prefer to just order the same thing. I will also prepare the same thing at home over and over again. This works ok when it is just me, but I have to remember Kenneth doesn’t want to eat the same thing every night or even every 3 days.

Then there are the movies I have memorized, but will still watch over and over again. I often watch 20 or 30 minutes of one before going to sleep. I figured this one out a while ago. Somehow of knowing exactly what was happing, while being lost in the scenery, costume, etc. is just enough to let go and let myself fall asleep (I have suffered from insomnia since I was a little girl).

I have always loved gingham and have it in just about every room of my house. I think because it is the same pattern right or left, top or bottom, front or back. All those neat little squares lined up… it’s just one big REPEAT! And who couldn’t love that!

So, why is it when my son listens to the same song over and over on his IPOD or the same book (this summer it’s Judy Blume’s, Double Fudge) does it drive me absolutely crazy!?! It doesn’t even take me 3 seconds to hear this from across the house before I just loose it! Before that it was a book about a frog who went “ballump, ballump.” Just writing about that makes me want to scream!

What Repeats do you find comfort in?

Oh, what do you do in the summer time?

When all the skies are blue?

The real words say, "when all the world is green."  But you know me, I always sing the wrong words to the wrong tune! And living here in the northwest summer means blue skies (well, most days?! It's pouring rain out this week).

I love this photo of Awsumb I recently had taken at a cheap portrait studio in the mall. This is exactly how you will find him around the house, and I will always remember him like this. When he is all grown up I will still put this picture up in the summer time. And yes, that is a real book that he owns and is reading this summer. (The Little Indian in the Cupboard)

A friend of mine recently noticed I often have photos taken of Awsumb with his toys or belongings. I started doing this after one of the first times I had taken Awsumb into some cheap portrait studio for baby pictures. The photographer handed him a dusty teddy bear to hold in the picture. Yuck!

Around the same time I had read a how to book on photography. The author suggested taking portraits of your child with prized possessions such as instruments, etc. At 6 months Awsumb was not yet an accomplished violin or trumpet player, but he did have a growing collection of stuffed animals and later small toys were his prized possessions.

So that's my parenting tip of the day. Next time you go into a studio for pictures grab something to take you with.  Like most portraits I have done this was a last minute grab and captured a moment in time that I will always treasure.

What pictures of your children do you treasure?

Monopoly Killer

I don't think I ever played a complete game of Monopoly until a few years ago. We had the missionaries over for dinner one night and as it often does the conversation turned to board games. One of the Elders was a Monopoly fanatic. They begged us to play, and we did. We had purchased a nice copy of the game in a collectors tin yeas ago, but this was the first (and LAST) time we played it. Why? It's depressing! Winner takes all. This is definatley why Settlers has over taken Monopoly. But I did learn that I had never really played the game correctly. Who knew you were supposed to auction off the properties? And to find out there was no Free Parking was a let down. (though Kenneth reminded me that's what made the game drag on, big comebacks) Thus, our nice collectors tin of Monopoly will continue to live in the back of the game closet. I will say that Monopoly does have some great bits! It doesn't get any better than the little shoe!

The article from WIRED that I shared in my last post started me thinking about what really makes a cool game. And while good bits are a huge plus, the game has to be fun to play. In Settler, the trading of rescources promotes interaction and team work. To win Cosmic Encounters a player simply needs five bases on other people's planets. This can only been accomplices with allies.

But one of the things that makes a game great is when the game changes it's own rules. This is why I love Cosmic. Each person draws a random Alien with special powers. These powers change the rules of the game. Making each time you play a totally different game. After all, who wants to play the same exact game over and over again? Settlers has enough variables right from the start with the random placement of resouce hexes and numbers for production die rolls.

Could Monopoly be reworked to provide a different experience everytime? Probably not, because the game itself is one person stompin on everyone else, not to mention the elimination aspect as player go broke one by one. That alone doesn't make it a good social game. There has to be give and take, allies, switching sides, etc. Unless of course you play games with us for the first time and Kenneth leans over and says, "Wendy's ruthless, don't trade with her" and from the beginning everyone gangs up on me!

Yes, Kenneth says this to everyone new person that plays games with us. I have recently relized that this is Kenneth's strategy because he is such a terrible board game player! Or maybe it's because his role to to read the rules and try to figure out how to teach us all these cool new games and he doesn't have time to develop his own strategy. Not to mention when we demand he make us all drinks!

P.S. Monopoly Jr. is a great kids game! Basic addition, counting, etc.

Here's a funny McDonald's commercial featurin Settlers of Catan in place of the annual Monopoly promotion...