Building With Toddlers

08 Mar 2021

I can’t lie, i totally forgot to write last night!

I was about to write while the boys were watching Stinky & Dirty, but then remembered i had something for Rex to build and wanted to do it with him before he went to bed–he’s helped me build several small things over the past few days.

I asked him if he wanted to build something with me. His face lighted up and he exclaimed with glee & excitement that he did. So i got the item out of the box & laid down all the pieces. “Mommy, what is it?!” he asked me, unable to contain his excitement and with a gleaming smile. “It’s a new poddy for you that goes on the big toilet so that you can sit on the big toilet and do real flushes!”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile disappear off a kid’s face so quickly–even with injury. The smile fled, the excitement turned to anxiety & disappointment, and he went into fight or flight mode. He chose flight, and responded to me “Can i go play in my playroom?”. “You don’t want to help me build this Rex?” “Nope.”

So Leo & I build it–mostly Leo just spread the screws & bolts all over the floor and tried to eat a couple choking hazards, which i intervened.

I felt bad about the poddy–i’d actually been a little nervous to tell him about it, but I figured that he likes building, so maybe if he built his own poddy, it might spark some interest in using something that he built. I was wrong, and I disappointed him.

Once they were in bed, i was still feeling bad and went to finish unpacking my closet (finally!). Then it was 11, so I went to bed, completely forgetting to write.

Yesterday, i worked on confetti–kind of. Mostly, i just read about html, javascript, react, and of course reagent as well as how to create interactive or animated components and how to add them to & remove them from the DOM.

I’ve chosen to go with a form-3, full life-cycle component, but it’s not working–at this point, i’m just trying to put a rectangle on the screen…


Rex:
Rex did ask this morning if he could go look at his new poddy–so that’s a start…

Leo:
Leo. We had one other moment of ecstatic excitement this week, and this one was Leo.

On Sunday, it arrived. Sunday evening, the four of us put it together. Rex got to do some bolts & barrel-nuts and even hold the drill while we tightened the bolts. Leo spread the the bolts & nuts all over the floor to add to the challenge of needing one of six long bolts in a sea of 28 short bolts, and they both helped us to keep the parts steady by climbing & standing on the bigger pieces while we were trying to line them up. But soon it was done. We put Leo’s new bed in their room right next to Rex’s, added a mattress, wrapped it in sheets, and threw on a warm blanket.

When this kid realized what it was, his face too lit up with glee & excitement and an ear to ear smile. He may have even put his arms up and shaken them to show his excitement as he does sometimes. Then he ran to his new bed, climbed in it, and pulled the blanket over him.

He did get in & out a couple times, but it was a much easier bed-time process–even Rex was a little easier too. Last night, Leo still showed excitement for his bed and again climbed right into it.

It’s cute how he knows. He knows it’s for him, and he’s excited to have it.

Big Boy Beds