the fountain of bricks

I built a thing today. It wasn’t super awesome and I wasn’t super good at building it. But the result of the effort I put into it paid off in dividends! (I don’t know exactly what that means but I’m hoping it means the same as “hugely” because that’s what I meant).

I had a list of projects today that I was determined to accomplish. I have started a new system of achieving my to-do list and so far I feel like a winner! But I’m only 4 days in so hold the applause until at least day 7, please. Today I managed to get it all done (which is kinda a strange feeling for me) so I sat on the floor where my boy had been messing around with Legos for about a half hour or so.

Now typically when I build with Legos, I start with a floor and then windows and walls and then I add furniture to my house. It’s been my Go-To Lego creation since I was a kid. It’s not very exciting anymore so I rarely play when my kids pull the little blocks out. I encourage them and even let them dump the crates of them on the floor (I know - CRAZY!) because I like to see what they come up with. They are so much more creative in that building sense than I am.

Today I watched my boy build a few things (a truck and then an island and then a waterfall) and I decided to try my hand at something other than a multi-colored brick house. It took me forEVer but I made a little park with a fountain in the middle of it. Not kidding: it took me at least an hour, probably closer to an hour and a half. Legos were everywhere. You can check my Instagram story to see the mess. I broke a couple of fingernails before I discovered that they now make this orange tool that pulls stubborn flat pieces apart for you! I used to have to resort to using my teeth to get those stupid thin bricks apart! I value my teeth more now.

As Linc and I finished my little park (complete with a bistro set and coins in the fountain) he said to me, “This was the best play time I’ve ever spent with you.” I made him repeat it because I wanted to make sure I had heard him correctly!
Guys, my heart flip flopped! I’ve known and lived with this kiddo for ten years. We have played SO many things together. We have built puzzles. We have practiced baseball. We have played board games. I’ve even played video games with him.
But this.
This was his best play time with me.

Aaahhhh! My heart was full! Getting on my knees and playing with my ten year old son, even though I would have rather watched a movie or read a book, was SO worth the aches and pains of being on a hard floor and all the time spent picking up every little teeny brick.

Who knew that Legos was his love language?!

I don’t like playing with Legos that much, but you had better believe that tomorrow we are creating a garden out of all the green bricks.

KC