Lego Night

Okay, I’ll come right out and admit this.  I have recently went back to my childhood and developed an interest in Legos again.  I’m pretty sure it started when I was reading another blog by a father, about getting his daughter a Lego set, but I’m not setting that in stone. (Nor will I say its just my overwhelming inner child finding a new way to break free)

So, while trying to figure out some stuff to do with the kids, I decided that getting one or two Lego sets, something we could do together, would be a nice attempt, a test we’ll say, at doing something that gets them away from watching TV for more then 5 minutes.  Well, I decided to start with Canaan since I had him this weekend, and he was simple enough to find a Lego set for.  Toy Story has been his life for the past year since Toy Story 3 came out, so when I saw a few different sets at the store, it was simply a matter of picking which one.

I went with the Woody and Buzz to the Rescue set, which recreates a scene from the first Toy Story movie, where Buzz has a rocket strapped to his back and they’re on RC.  The best part about this one is that RC works where you can pull the car back and it takes off on the floor, and when I say takes off, I mean this little toy has to kick to it!  First time on the floor, ran into a chair leg and pieces went flying!

Anyway, I wasn’t sure how much coaxing it would take to get Canaan to sit at the kitchen table and do this with me, but amazingly enough, all it took was putting together the Woody Lego character, and he was all about it, ready for the next piece, watching the car come together.

Although I had to do most of the building, he was able to help, and was very intense with what he was doing (just look at the picture), and I have to say, he had more fun with it then I expected.  He’s already ready to do another set, already has looked through the book seeing what other Toy Story sets he can get (I’m wanting to train set, I’ll admit it), so it definitely looks like we have something new to do on those “down” nights. So I have to admit, Lego night was a complete success, with hopes of repeat performances in our future!

The Sauce……The Sauce!!!!!

A strange thing has been going on with Canaan lately, he has developed what seems like a phobia to sauce. (In this case, saltomaphobia for anyone curious.  I know you were wondering!!)  When I say sauce, I don’t mean like ketchup or bbq sauce or anything like that, he’s never liked those. (Yes, a kid that doesn’t like ketchup DOES exist!)  The newest thing this weekend has been that he doesn’t want anything to do with pizza or spaghetti sauce.  I realize that these quirks and changes in him will be more out of the blue for me, especially when there could be a simple cause or reason and I’m unaware of it, but this just seems, well…..weird.  He’s never had issue with pizza or spaghetti when he’s been here in the past, and now, he was nearly in tears on the thought of having to eat spaghetti for lunch.

Fighting with him over what to eat isn’t anything new, he has an affinity for junk food, and I’ve had to have more then one argument with him regarding not having cereal for lunch or supper, but this is different.  It bothers me when he has quirks like this and I’m unaware of the origin of it.  It bothers me more when, I go to ask him, about anything really, and he clams up.  I do my best to be there for him, and for him to realize he can rely on me, and confide in me, but its hard to maintain.  We have a few good weekends, then a few bad ones.  Fortunately, in this case, we came out good.  He ate his lunch, even showing pride in the fact that he ate the spaghetti, realizing and admitting that it was in fact good, even saying he’d eat it again if asked.  The biggest hurdle, and I know this in advance, in two weeks time, when he’s here again, I’ll likely have to have the same arguments with him.  Its just part of it I guess, I just hope that rather then just weathering the storm, I’ve managed to take a step up on the ladder and he begins to realize, that even though I’m not with him every day, that I do love him, want only the best for him, and won’t push him in the wrong direction.  Even when its something as simple as sauce.