Leggo my LEGO

I have developed a desire for Legos.

I'm still not sure where this came from or when it happened (perhaps from playing with the Duplo blocks in the nursery at church), but I found myself  haunting lego.com, browsing the Pick-a-Brick store, and calling Doug to come look at this.  But it didn't seem like a good idea to bring something like that into a house with a busy two-year old who still sometimes put things in his mouth.  (Andy's been chewing on stuff a lot lately...maybe he's cutting molars). 



We got Andy some Duplo blocks for Christmas.  Both kids have been enjoying playing with them. But I still wanted some regular Legos. 

Now, I'm not really supposed to say Legos, since LEGO is a brand name and doesn't have a plural form. Apparently I should be saying "LEGO bricks" or something along those lines. And LEGO should always be written in all caps.

So anyway, I wanted some regular LEGO bricks.   And the more I thought about it, the more I really didn't want to wait.  Finally I just said, "Let's get some and just keep them away from Andy."



So we did. In a frenzy of shameless consumerism, we picked up the cute little Knight and Castle building set (I fell in love with the door and the windows--Kate likes the dragon, of course) and then the very next day we went up to the LEGO store at the Bellevue Square Mall (which was cool but crazy crowded) and filled up a large cup with random pieces at the Pick-a-Brick wall.



A couple of weeks later we also got the large pink brick box, which is full of girly cuteness. (And a pony!)

LEGO sure has changed since I was growing up. Or perhaps not changed, as such, but definitely expanded. I'm quite sure they didn't have pink bricks when I was a kid.

Kate and I have been having fun with them. (And Dad too!) She calls them "the tiny Legos" (Errr...tiny LEGO bricks. Yeah.) and when she wants to play with them we keep them on the kitchen table, and make sure to clean them up as soon as we're done. So far this seems to be working pretty well.



Minifig Sally (that's short for "mini figure," in case you're not up on your LEGO-lingo) driving her pink jeep. Kate turned it into a dragon with the addition of horns and a tail. And I think those little round pieces on the front are meant to be eyes and nostrils.



Kate came up with this bird all by herself.



I was thinking that the extra room in those bins they give you was probably a psychological ploy to entice you to buy more bricks to fill up the space, but it has occurred to me that they're also useful for storing your finished creations. Kate does seem to enjoy the building aspect but so far she's been much more interested in playing with the things that she's put together. We've come up with some funny little creatures. The one on the left has been dubbed "Eye Stalks."



Andy occasionally expresses his displeasure at not being allowed to play with the Legos, but he's having a good time with the Duplo blocks. He likes to make tall towers.



When he's older we can all play with the Legos together!