In case you hadn't heard, my husband is just a little bit crazy about Legos. He doesn't play with them, though. He researches, buys, cleans, sorts, organizes, and sells Legos. At any given point in time there are tens of thousands of Legos in my house, and none of them are available for playing (but feel free to stop by
his online store and browse the merchandise).
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| Linda's first ever Lego build - a snowman! |
His passion for the interlocking bricks has birthed a curiosity in me. I don't think I'd ever play with Legos or create my own buildings, but I can see the appeal of the puzzle.
With so many Legos around the house, we're all a bit curious. Today I decided to ask Linda if she
wanted to give 'em a whirl. She hesitated, but curiosity got the best of her and we sat down at the kitchen table with three new holiday sets - a snowman, a turkey, and a reindeer.
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| Ta-da! It turned out so well that she wanted to keep going. |
We started with the snowman. I enjoy the small sets because their small (and therefore quick to put together), but many of the pieces are also small. I discovered lots of one-by-one bricks and plates, two-by-one slopes, one-by-one slopes - trust me, I'm talking about tiny pieces. Tiny pieces work for little fingers, but it's harder when your fingers are wider than a two-by-one brick.
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| Midgie stopped by to help. |
Not only are my fingers wide, Linda's fingers are wide. She's also never put Legos together before. And she doesn't have a natural sense for how things match or fit together.
What should have taken 10-15 minutes took more than an hour, but I could see Linda's brain and fingers communicating, struggling to line up the bricks and snap them together. Many pieces frustrated her, but she kept going. She challenged herself, finishing what she started even when it was hard.
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| Turkey concentration... |
I won't lie - it wasn't easy for me either. I hadn't planned on spending an hour with Legos today. I have a story to write and dishes to clean, but I could also see the interest in Linda's eyes when I asked her if she wanted to play with Legos.
After successfully completing the snowman, we moved on to the turkey and reindeer. We had a few set backs, but we kept going. At the 30-minute mark I realized I was going to have to adjust my afternoon schedule, but I decided not to worry about it. One of the reasons we wanted Linda to move in with us was to give her new experiences - Lego building certainly counts!
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| ...and reindeer magic. |
So now Linda has her first official Lego family. We've already decided that these guys are staying with us - you won't find them for sale anytime soon. We may even take them apart this spring so we can put them back together again next year.
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| Linda's Legos! The whole fam is ready for the holidays. |
