Lego Space Shuttle

putting it all together

For Christmas we gave W a Lego city space shuttle set. It was a big surprise and he and I put it together last week and as of today (Hallelujah!) it is actually still intact. This was a great set for his age since he was able to do most of it by himself. It has a lot of tiny pieces but part of the fun for W was searching for the right ones.

We assembled the first parts a couple of weeks ago but soon realized that a base piece (key to the operation) was missing from the box. We were pretty upset about this. Then I went on Lego.com and was thankful to learn that they offer a complimentary part replacement service. I am quite happy with their extremely helpful customer service! It took a couple of weeks to arrive, but when it did W and I were able to complete the shuttle in an afternoon.

The boys have been very careful playing with it so far, and I hope that they enjoy it for years to come.

(This is just a post from lego fans, we were not paid to endorse this product.)

FIAR: Ferdinand - take two

We rowed Ferdinand again recently for our Five in a Row co-op. You can see an older post about The Story of Ferdinand here. 


This time around we focused on a science aspect. W asked if the little corks on the trees in the cute illustrations by Robert Lawson really grew like that. I said you know, I don't think so but I really don't know, so of course we went to youtube to discover how they really harvest cork for corked bottles and sustainable flooring. He really liked seeing how the bark of the cork tree is peeled off, and appreciated that it seemed like a lot of work for the people to cut it down. Also the fact that it can grow back and be harvested again was pretty cool to know. That was part of geography as well because cork grows well in Spain and Portugal. 


Another science project was focusing on the parts of a flower (Ferdinand's favorite) and coloring in an anatomy sheet. We have read this story so many times that it was nice to do some fresh activities.


Our co-op met yesterday and we made silly hats like the men that decided to bring Ferdinand to the bull fight in Madrid. We used newspaper, stickers, and craft supplies to decorate. This month we will be rowing A New Coat for Anna with the group. 

making the hats

                                         

some of the silly hats and silly expressions :)

ice skating recap

W recently had his last class for ice skating lessons at a local skating rink. (W is pictured with the red mittens and Cars helmet). He was in level Tot 2 which was a beginner class for kids 3-6 who were not familiar with skating. It ran for six weeks, and for the first couple of weeks it was almost painful for Jacob and I to watch our little boy falling down so much. After the second class he had wanted to quit after feeling quite discouraged but I am very glad he decided to stick with it (I think the cardboard Zamboni that one of the instructors gave him certainly helped.) :)  I was afraid he was doomed with my lack of natural grace, but gradually he got more confidence and ultimately he could skate around on his own. He did mostly marching, a bit of gliding, and he was finally able to get himself back up when he fell down. Most importantly, he had a good time with it.

In the future I think he will be relaxed about skating and it gives him a good reminder to stick with things and practice. When asked if he wanted to contribute to this post, W said "I had fun at the ice skating rink."