Gabriel has to follow the instructions precisely and build exactly, and I do mean exactly, what is in the drawings in the instructions. (In this photo, he built the "homestead" exactly as it is in the drawing, but facing away from the camera, unfortunately.)
Julian is a little more creative, or less bound to The Right Way, and happily stacks them however he likes. Unless Gabriel sees it that is. Gabriel sometimes hops with frustration that Julian isn't doing it right and will even go so far as to take apart Julian's work. I don't think he's being malicious; he just can't stand seeing things done "wrong"! But they both love making things with the logs and spend a lot of time doing so.
Good thing for the Lincoln Logs today. I couldn't let the boys play out back this afternoon, since it became a carpenter's workshop, with wood, sawdust and plugged-in power tools spread all over the patio. I hated having to pull them indoors, for their sake and for mine. I called to them from the deck to come in, but Gabriel refused, and then roped his sheeplike brother in: "Come on, Julian, just keep playing." This made me so mad! I ran to get my shoes and had to leave Katrina screaming to go out and reprimand Gabriel for his defiance and then drag him inside (Julian followed).
You'd think I could ask the carpenter to work somewhere else, but I don't want to slow down the workers' progress in any way. Every day I get twice as tired as the day before of being under construction (an exponential progression!), of finding new dust on everything, of having men come into the house at 8am when I'm still in my skivvies. I just about blew my top tonight when Julian was taking a leak before bath, and lifting the toilet lid resulted in dust-covered fingers, and then dust on his little....well, you know. I couldn't even set their toothbrushes down on the sink counter, or open the toothpaste tube, or turn on the water, or turn on the light switch, without getting dust on my hands. It's everywhere! At least the work today was on final-punchlist items, though the painters still have a few days left.
Katrina has turned into one vocal baby! Lots of adorable -- and now loud -- sounds from her. Sometimes it sounds like she's watching a fireworks display with all the oohs and aahhs. She's having a grand time with her latest discovery, her hands, though so far they're the only thing she's figured out to put in her mouth.
Dave had to work late tonight, so I got to put all three kids to bed myself tonight. It was a lot easier when Katrina was younger! I did the entire process of getting the boys undressed, bathed, pajama'd, brushed, and read to, while holding her. She really, really needed her own bath and bedtime too, but I couldn't do the boys and the girl at the same time. That's going to be a recurring theme in our lives, I think!
1/10/07
No comments:
Post a Comment