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Towers to the Sky
I don't know if spring is here or not, or if I can point to it as a cause, but the sleep schedule around here has gone straight to Hell.
With a soft mind, I hang out with Felix as he entertains himself at ungodly morning hours and to keep myself awake, I build enormous towers with his Lego Quatro blocks. (For those not familiar with the intricacies of the Lego universe, Quatro is Lego for children aged one to three. The blocks are eight times larger than the blocks for children aged two to five, which are called Duplo. After that it is all plain Lego.) This is one of those "minute to learn, lifetime to master" projects where I try to use up all 95 of his blocks (recent birthday) before he sees how much progress I've made and destroys my creation. The delicate balance is made more complicated by having to make sure that while I'm building, he hasn't decided to pull a plant down on his head or spread baking soda around (because he learned how to open the pantry door).
But I've fallen for Lego. It has a terrific formalism- limited colors, even fewer shapes than regular Lego offers. If you combine that with a groggy yearning to return to a dream state, you can build some inviting structures. Lately, I've been trying to see how unstable a base I can have that will still all of soaring towers.
Lego has a particularly protracted history. The little Danish blocks were first released in 1949 (as "Automatic Binding Blocks") then released with improved stability and improved name in 1958. Since then there has been the obvious explosion of Lego products including Harry Potter Lego, Lego Jewelry kits for girls "Clikits" (misguided, I suspect), Lego "Bionacles"- which are "constraction" toys- a combination of construction toy and action figure (I hate words like that), and the long-anticipated Lego Mindstorm robot toys.
This is where I always get stuck. Here I am smitten with Lego, and pleased that the Felix is learning how to assemble as well as smash towers. But that is not enough. These blocks are not enough. There must be electronics and robotica and I really should prepare myself to get on board and enjoy serious construction that actually has to work. This worries me, since I lack discipline in the toy department, and in the construction department for that matter.
But perhaps by the time he's ready for advanced Lego, Felix will have come up with a more reasonable sleep schedule, since I don't think I'm in any condition to operate heavy machinery right now, or put anything together so that it functions, and I'm only staying lively through a constant influx of pre-Easter malt ball treats and coffee.
posted by Elise at 1:22 PM
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parodie said...
How old is Felix? He may be hitting the 8/9 month sleep regression... good luck!
A site I love is Ask Moxie - she talks about sleep regressions and all sorts of stuff: a good clearinghouse for info, or so I have found.
3/30/2006 1:41 PM
Elise said...
Ah! Many thanks! The Felix is well past 12 months now, so he's doing something different - OR he's having the famed sleep regression late.
3/30/2006 4:37 PM
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parodie said...
