Lego Monster

I was talking to my sister today, and she shared with me that her son Isaac is obsessed with Legos. Well, I told her, we have one of those too. Eric spends most of his time building. While I mostly appreciate his focus and attention to detail, sometimes it's really hard to get him to focus on anything but Legos. He has stories for every wacky thing he makes, and that (usually) makes up for his inattention when I'm pleading with him to "Put the Legos down! Now! It's time to get dressed!" Not only does he build, he looks at Lego books, plays games on the Lego website, tells me daily what new Lego product he wants, and dreams of one day having the most amazing job of being a Lego designer. I think he's not alone in dreaming this dream.

salamander habitat

After learning about salamanders during a class at the botanical garden, Eric decided to create a habitat for the one he made. Let me point out the details, in case they aren't clear. First, the salamander is camouflaged, sitting on a black rock. Can you see her? She might be hard to see . . . Next, he wanted to make sure to include some water, grass, and leaves, as well as other things that you find in a forest. There's a tree, some rocks, and even sticks found in the water so that the salamander can lay her eggs. He also thought the salamander might like some friends, so he added a lizard (that was made during a previous class), a dinosaur, and an alligator. Finally, in the last picture, after realizing that he had blue and brown on, he decided that he could be camouflaged, just like his salamander. (I know, really, he's hard to see, isn't he!?)

construction site

Sometimes, when left to his own devices, this boy can come up with some pretty creative ways to entertain himself. And when his creativity stays within bounds, not only am I impressed, but I'm quite pleased, too. Witnessing moments like this make my day, even if it's after the fact. (I didn't get to appreciate this one in person - Brian took these. I was out running on a trail, and that makes my day, too.)