And only four + a half hours later...
The giant Lego Star Wars box was opened as soon as Simon arrived home yesterday. It was definitely the first thing he wanted to do after he came in the door.
It was about that point in time when I looked on the box and noticed it said ages 9-14. Um, yep, I knew I was in for it.
Upon opening the box I was greeted to somewhere around 14 bags filled
with lego supplies. Lots and lots of small and smaller pieces. My first
task was to go in the kitchen and grab a couple muffin tins, cookie
sheets, and some blue cups because there was no way this task was going
to be tackled without some serious organization.
There were over 1300 pieces and two booklets. This photo right here was step 10. I think there were 60 some steps.
Simon's job in all this was simply not to whine and to help where he could. Amazingly, over the four + hours it took to put this ship together he did not break down once. He did ask if I was "done yet" a few times but no drama. He put all the little droids together - and practiced some counting as there were 23 in all. We had a nice little conversation as the afternoon and evening went along, talking about the legos, the baby, his birthday party, and school yesterday (they made a Chinese dragon that he was pretty excited about).
We took a little break for dinner and to put on jammies. And then it was finally done. It looks like this:
He didn't have much time to play with it before it was bed time, but it was a good start. I imagine tomorrow afternoon will be filled with some serious playtime. It's a pretty cool ship with lots of doors that open and close and three other small ships that go in and out (one carries all the droids).
I have to say that I liked the process. It's methodical and balanced and you just follow the directions...one small step at a time. As I was putting it together I was thinking that it's someones job to design these things and to figure out how all the pieces go together just right. Totally amazing.
Here's to a playful weekend at home and to 37 weeks tomorrow.
Coming next week: a Valentine minibook, a superhero giveaway, and a tour of the baby's room.
legos are so much fun. my Tyler is into the Indiana Jones series right now & i had ordered him a big set back in Dec & it didn't arrive til Wed. well i let him open the package on Thursday & he & dad put some of it together, let me tell ya, he had a hart time sleeping that night (Friday am was a pain getting him ready for school). he's seriously addicted! i think it's cool seeing other little boys into legos. they are so fun to play with & really cool to put together.
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Ah Ali well done! we didn't get ours done in a single day it took, well it took ages but it is worth it and then the next birthday he did his own.
this is where i outlined my drama with the same one http://joyfulscraps.typepad.com/joyful_scraps/2007/08/life-star-wars-.html
so I think you did really well!
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Lego is such a GREAT toy for kids (and parents ahahaha) ! I'm impatient to discover the baby bedroom ;-) Smooches from Belgium ! And take care...
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Thank God for Lego! My son has AS and he loves instructions and steps to follow, in fact they calm him down. And we employ instructions and lists (list out all the steps) to help him deal with situations and school when he was young. Now he is older he is able to make plans for himself and deal with everything. He is wonderfully compliant and is doing brilliantly in school, but we also get excited when he is able to 'break the rules' now and then! :) Take care with Simon!
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Thank God for Lego! My son has AS and he loves instructions and steps to follow, in fact they calm him down. And we employ instructions and lists (list out all the steps) to help him deal with situations and school when he was young. Now he is older he is able to make plans for himself and deal with everything. He is wonderfully compliant and is doing brilliantly in school, but we also get excited when he is able to 'break the rules' now and then! :) Take care with Simon!
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I love lego. Last oktober my son Tim (11)won a competition from LEGO. He was the winner for the Netherlands. There were 36 winners from al over the wolrd. Pretty cool! And we all won a weekend to LEGO in Billund Danmark, slept in the legolandhotel and went to the plant where they make a part of the lego and put the boxes together. There were all the new Starwars-boxes And my sons loved it!! So did I I must confess.We also met some of the designers. I scrapped the trip. You can see it here: http://mabosblog.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html And this is the story ofthe trip in dutch but with a lot of foto's: http://mabosblog.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html
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As I read your blog my children are both sitting in front of me putting legos together. We are just beginning the obsession. I love that you took the time to spent 4 hours creating something Simon would love. You are an excellent Mom. Off to create with them now!
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Fantastic effort Ali! Just a question how did you post the photo of the finished Lego with the whole background white?
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Wishing Simon a happy belated!
I remember putting those things together when I was younger; what a mess we would have! It's been a while since I put one together, but now I know, to use some serious organization skills! Oh, with patience too! :
Have a great weekend!
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You are one super mom for putting that together. The toughest Lego creation I have had to make so far was a racing car. My Simon (2) loved it and enjoyed taking it apart even more. Needless to say it didn't last very long. :0)
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It looks like someone had a wonderful birthday! I remember the day when our son got the Lego Millenium Falcon and it took my husband a long time to put it together... Love the way you used your muffin trays to put the tiny Lego parts...
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You'll be amazed how quickly he learns to build these creations without you! My son started with Star Wars Legos at 5 years old. It helped him learn about symmetry and planning. After the first build, the pieces were all mixed in with other sets so that particular ship never got built again, but he came up with some amazing inventions of his own. He's 14 now, still inventing on a larger scale! It was a worthwhile investment of your time.
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We did four (4) different Star Wars projects. We've learned to super glue the items together so they don't break/get lost and can be played with.
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as bad as it sounded 4 hours plus I still think his ship looks pretty cool:)Happy Birthday Simon and congratulations on finishing the all over 60 tesks for Mom:)xox
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You are the woman!!
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Wow, this is an afternoon/evening that both you & Simon will never forget; as a child I was in love with Lego; it was my favorite toy - building things and then starting over again; a few christmases ago - we bought my nephew a lego ship to build - many parts just like this one; and Christmas Day night it took my brother in law and myself about 3 hours to build it for my nephew to be able to play with it boxing day - well on boxing day, it was played with, and then eventually taken apart to build other things, so hopefully Simon will enjoy this one for a longer time!
Thank you for sharing this with your readers, and what a great birthday memory for Simon :) And some great one on one time for him before your beautiful lil girl arrives :)
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Hi Ali,
First, I love the title of your last post, "Celebrating Simon." I've never thought to use that as a title for a birthday LO for either of my two sons, and I love it! I will be using it atleast twice this year!
Also, we've put together MANY lego ships around here and we've never thought to use cupcake pans to organize the pieces. Great idea! My husband and son usually just dump each baggy out individually and go from there. I'll share your idea the next ship they build!
Take care, and congrats on having just a few more weeks to go...savor them! They were always my favorite weeks of each pregnancy, with the anticipation and all.
Take care,
PAM
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Too funny! My son (who is about the same age as Simon...will turn 7 in May) got the Lego Batmobile last year for his birthday. It took Daddy 4 1/2 hours to put it together, too! At least you approached it in a more organized way than we did; we had tiny Legos nested in our frize (sp?) carpet by the end of it. And the hardest part, I think, was that almost every single piece was black! I guess it's a lesson in sticking with something hard and trying to enjoy the end result! (I hate to say it, but our son had it completely taken apart within a week!) Our son can always use a lesson in patience. Simon sounds like he was a trooper!
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Glad you got to have a good afternoon with Simon! Not long for baby sis to arrive...and eat those small pieces!! :) Get her some Duplo's!!
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Maybe the baby will come tomorrow; it's my daughter's 20th birthday! Time goes so fast... I remember that day like it was yesterday!
Not sure I would have lasted 4+ hours putting the Lego ship together... it is cool looking though. I always hated how the Barbie stuff has a million ties holding the stuff in the box; it all has to be cut out and that takes forever before you can even tackle putting it together.
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Only the post title came up before the rest of the page had loaded and I thought that you were posting to tell us that "only four and a half hours later" you had a sweet baby girl! Congrats on the ship, it looks great.
Can't wait to hear of your little one's arrival! Here's to hoping that it only takes four and a half hours, we can wish, right!?
Angie
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I really enjoyed this post :)
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Great job, Ali! Maybe you could come over and help us finish ours! My 11 year old is a Lego pro and has been working on that same set (a little bit each day since Christmas) - apparently you can now add "Lego master" to your already impressive resume!
Well baby wishes - so excited for you!
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I'm impressed, the way it works here is, John (9 years old) puts them together and I watch. I am not blessed with patience or the ability to understand instructions. Thank the Lord he is or we would be in trouble. I don't think boys ever grow out of Legos, John still loves them, especially Lego people.
God Bless,
Sarah
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wow -- big project!
Congrats on 37 weeks -- so exciting...can't wait to read all about this next chapter in the Edwards house!
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