what calms the crazy boy?

Isaiah received a set of "regular" Legos for Christmas from Great Grandma. Not the bigger duplo Legos, but the little tiny ones. I was a bit nervous to open them - mainly because I didn't want little tiny pieces all over the house or for the little tiny pieces to end up in Levi's mouth - but from the beginning we created rules for them and they have been an AMAZING toy for Isaiah. In fact, the toy that has kept his interest for the longest by far of any other toy we own or that he's ever played with. Thank you Great Grandma!

So the rules are that the Legos must stay "the mat."(Side note: Last Christmas Isaiah received a train table with a really nice vinyl mat to look like trees and rivers. The train table is now in the spare bedroom and the trains very rarely get played with. I guess Isaiah's just not a train loving little boy (at least right now), and that's okay. So we've put the mat to good use.) We fold the mat up and keep it with the Legos. This is the ONLY place the Legos can go. If a Lego goes off the mat then someone is "breaking the rules." Anyone who sees a Lego off the mat gets to say, "you are breaking the rules." and we all (as in anyone who is playing with the Legos at that time -- mommy or daddy must play them with him) know to quickly find the Lego that's off the mat and put it right back on. It sounds really silly, but it REALLY works. We've NEVER had Legos all over the place and we've not lost any of them!! We can also only play with them when Levi is asleep.

I love that Isaiah concentrates so hard on building with these Legos. They help him use his imagination to build things (usually cars, spaceships, or cars that turn into spaceships:) and just in the 4 weeks that he's had them he's really gotten creative with them! The first week or so that we played with them he simply built towers, now it's so much more!

Here are some pictures of Isaiah playing with them the other night - I picked a lot to post, and to you they'll probably all look about the same, but to me I see what a big boy they make him become and I can just see the creative juices flowing in each picture. So bare with me :)

And when I ask him what he's making, he will usually pull out the instructions and point to the bottom picture. He'll say, "I'm making this car and you make that one, okay?" Looks just like it don't you think?His car can now fly!So this may seem like I'm making a big deal out of a little set of Legos, but I am just so impressed at how they can make a little wild boy settle down and create for such long periods at a time!