Architectural Explorations of a Preschooler

I'm amazed every day at the intricate cities Xander constructs. His medium: legos and wooden blocks, wooden train tracks, matchbox cars, and whatever other objects may come in handy. He favors expansive megaprojects: railroad interchanges with infinite loops, skyways that curve over tracks and end abruptly in a cliff, intricate castles that tower over railroad stations, and long, long traffic jams.

Here are a few choice projects from the last month.

Tree-like castle with trains sleeping on the branches.
Very "carious" (precarious).

The long vehicle in front is a lego train designed by Xander.
It goes under  the tunnel made of wooden blocks.

Xander works on a traffic jam.

Tower taller than Xander. Lego structure next to it
is an elevator. Note railroad crossing (with signs) next to elevator.

Cars are asleep in their houses.

BART train zooms across the "road"
 (an eight-foot long board Micah marked up with a centerline).
Elevator is next to BART platform.

Kai is starting to take an interest in trains and cars--
much to Xander's frustration.

A long house. The little lego person was later joined by his "brother." 

Lego house brothers riding in their street sweeper car. The yellow part on the front
rotates (Mommy's idea). Kai, a.k.a. Mr. Destructo,  is being pulled away by  Daddy.

Loop-de-loop. He often uses the ambulance in his aerial train setups.

Curving ramp up to the castle.
This was about the time our nanny asked us to clean up more before she arrived.

Another view of the aerial ramp. Xander's proud--
he constructed this one entirely by himself.

Final view of railroad city, complete with long, snaking traffic jam.

Baby Wrestling

This week features naked babies wrestling on the bed. In fact, every week features naked babies wrestling on the bed. Both boys love to be naked, and a cute ritual has evolved: before Kai gets in his PJ's, we put him on the bed diaper-free, and Xander joins him for a raucous, naked gigglefest. No calming bath, lavender scented massage oil, quiet music, and lullabies for Kai. He gets bouncing, wrestling, pillow fights and near launches off the bed. It seems to work.

Xander repeatedly whaps his face into the pillow while yelling "ahhhhh!" as Kai seeks out  Mommy.

Kai and Xander approach Mommy.

Baby drool has amazing viscosity.

Bouncy House!

This evening, we went with some neighbors to a nearby block party. Packs of six-year-olds were  running around. Anyone without a kid had a dog. Some had both. Adults milled about the fourteen-foot long table that was laden with gourmet salads, pastries, barbeque. Kids lined up for the bouncy house.

The bouncy house. I know Xander will love it. I tell him so. But I also know how he needs to adjust to a new situation. He needs to scope it out for a while. Observe. Understand. Then, he might be convinced to try it as long as I'm nearby. He's standing six feet away, transfixed by the thing. But when I lean down and ask if he wants to go in, he says, "No!" and buries his head in my leg. "Why not?" "It's scary."

I suggest he stand right next to it and peek in a little gap in the wall to watch the other kids. He does this for some time.  Eventually he crawls up the ramp and peeks in the door. "Want to go in?" "NO!" He's vibrating with excitement, though--smiling, nervously laughing--clearly he wants to try it, but NOT YET. I suggest we go in together. He agrees.

We sit in a corner, jostled by all the other kids. He's still not ready to jump. But he is having a good time. After several minutes, most of the kids get out, and I suggest he tries one bounce. He does it. Then back to me. Then another. Back to me. Then he stands up and bounces across the tent. There's no stopping him now. He is a bouncy house monster! And he loves it, like I knew he would.

More kids come in. Micah finds us, and despite my protests, crawls in...with nine-month-old Kai. Kai immediately lights up and starts giggling and jumping in Micah's arms. He tries to crawl away. He grabs the other kids. He is having the time of his life. Eventually, I grab the baby and slide out of the house.

And that, my friends, tells you a lot about these boys.

Food Makes Two Things

Wow, Labor Day was laborious, so I didn't get a chance to update the blog. In the interest of keeping  my weekly update promise, here's a quick one from dinner.

We get Xander to brush his teeth by telling him he has to get all the sugar bugs. Tonight Xander announced at the table, "You know what? Food makes sugar bugs. Even poop. It makes two things: poop and sugar bugs." Yes, he's learning about our amazing bodies.

While we're on the topic, while he was on the toilet tonight, he also told me that the poop had been knocking at the door for a while and now it was pushing out.

He will be so embarrassed when he's 16 and finds this post in the Google archives.