House Rules

When I signed up for this job, I thought of Lego as one of the perks.

As we dropped the menfolk off at the airport, dad gave the 4-year-old a kiss and reminded him to help mom, because he was the man of the house now.  If the prospect of an entire week alone with preschoolers isn't an excuse for a mother to go to seed, I don't know what is.  We virtuously ran errands for the home and garden, liberally sprinkled with treat and toy purchases along the way (see Orlando?  Your ad campaign is working).  And when we came home, The Man Of The House drew up a new sign for the house which I so wish I could find to share with you (I am currently without a working camera, and by the time it occurred to me to scan it, the paper was gone).  But it had 3 circles with lines through them, and pictures depicting:

1.  No pudding.  (It was not time for snack, and baby sister was clamouring for chocolate pudding.).
2.  No people with guns.  (In case anyone is tempted to try to sneak firearms into the house).
3.  No naps allowed.

So we played all day long, and somewhere along the way, The Man Of The House dug out the old Lego instruction manuals and decided it was time to try to bring the Pirate Ship back to its glory days.

We have ten years' and three boys' worth of Legos, plus a bin we inherited from some neighbors, plus some from my own childhood, all mixed into a huge Rubbermaid bin, which, spilled out, covers the floor of an entire room.  (We still have the 10 plastic drawers into which we used to sort pieces, but when this Herculanean task proved too much to keep up, we resorted to the catch-all bin).  After about two hours of sifting, we had a main and a mizzen, and mom was about ready to go out and buy a new ship.  Except... he was having so much fun sifting, finding all sorts of cool pieces and minifigure parts.  And he was really very reasonable about substitutions.  And I couldn't remember the last time I'd sat with him for 2 hours to build Legos, that's usually his big brothers' job.  Besides, how do you say no to this face?

So this morning after a storm at sea destroyed the ship, we started work on the tow truck.  Three hours later, we broke for lunch, but not before completing the truck and setting it to work pulling the semi.  Tomorrow morning there's a helicopter on the agenda.  And since he's lost the paper copy of his House Rules, I'm going to use the police cruiser to leverage a nap.