An Old Radio

We returned home after our last trip to my dad's house with an old radio -- his idea of downsizing is to "gift" things to his grandsons who love anything that came from Grampie's house!  We quickly determined that the tape player didn't work -- which was followed by an explanation of what a tape was -- and after fiddling with the radio, discovered that it didn't work very well either.  Hmmmm ... into the garbage it goes, unless ....

I recently came across a reference to a book entitled:  50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do by Gever Tulley.  Well, that lead me to Tulley's TED talk entitled : 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do (to view the entire talk click here).  Wow, some of those things would really be pushing my comfort level, but I can see how they would be empowering to kids.  I wonder what the other 45 things are?  Anyway, one of the suggestions was to let your children take apart an appliance.  The example given was a dishwasher, but I am rather attached to my dishwasher and, although it could probably use a little tweaking, I am not ready to set my boys upon it yet.  But it did make me think of the old radio.  We were going to throw it out anyway ... what would be the harm, I thought, in letting them take it apart.

So today, with rain pouring down outside, was the day.  They seemed a little taken aback by my idea -- shocked even.  "What?! You want us to use these tools to take the radio apart?"  Hmm, I must need to work on my communication skills because I thought that my instructions were pretty clear.  But once they got over their initial shock and got into it -- it didn't take too long -- they had a great time.  I had to bit my tongue a few times, so as not to make too many suggestions to "their" project, but I did get the old "righty, tighty; lefty, loosey" lesson in -- now if only they could consistently tell their right from their left.  Oh well, they figured it out.

 They spent hours at the table taking things apart, looking them all over and in some cases putting them back together.  Their biggest discovery was that there are magnets in the speakers!  They were so excited that they began to stick everything that they could to the speaker and then proceeded to stick it to the fridge, the washing machine and anything else that they could find that was metal.

It turned out to be one of the best rainy day activities that we have done in a long time.  Aidan has declared himself an expert and would now like to build his own radio!

Tomorrow's lesson:  Don't take things apart without permission!

Things That Make Me Happy #17

Strolling around the Internet one day, I came across a blog post entitled "100 Things That Make Me Happy".  What a great idea, I thought as I scanned the list, so Fridays are now dedicated to things that make me happy!

Things That Make Me Happy!
# 17 Blanket Forts

Rain, rain and more rain -- we've had a lot of rain this week. It was tough not to complain, to keep reminding myself that it was good for the trees and the plants, that it couldn't go on forever ... or could it ...?

After a couple of outings, which resulted in wet feet, all our footwear was lined up in front of the fire waiting to dry. With the whole afternoon in front of us, no dry footwear to go anywhere, and personalities starting to clash, I made my best suggestion and hoped for the best: "How about a blanket fort, we haven't done that in a long time?" The boys immediately jumped up and went on a blanket search. They came back with every blanket and sheet from their beds and around the house -- we had more than I thought -- and started construction.

It is quite rare to find and activity that all four kids can enjoy together, but blanket forts are really for everybody -- they even gave me a tour, although some of the corners were a little tight! I got a few moments of peace and sat back happily listening to the construction talk and then the laughter and fun that followed. Ahhhhhhh ... They played quite happily all afternoon (until Laurel decided to remodel it -- adding a woman's touch, you know) and were quite disappointed when they had to take it apart. They had great plans to sleep in it that night, but knowing how much "sleep" they would actually get, I decided against it -- sorry guys!

It was also fun to see all of our blankets out and to be reminded of where they had come from. The homemade "I Spy" quilt that arrived at Christmas, baby blankets that are still used (and treasured), afghans knit by loved ones, favourites old and new. What a great collection we have.

So, let it rain. I am surrounded by memories of loved ones, my children's laughter, and a warm fire. The sun will be out tomorrow ... or maybe the next day ... or the day after that ... or the day after that ...

the boys giving Laurel a tour!

Puddle Jumping

Day 2 of wet weather with no end in sight.  Blah weather outside, fidgety kids on the inside, and the song "Six Little Ducks" running continually through my head -- remember that song?

Six little ducks that I once knew,
Fat ones, skinny ones, fair ones too,
But the one little duck with the feather in his back,
He lead the others with a "quack, quack, quack" ...
(there, now it's in your head too ... you can thank me later!)

So I decided to take my little ducks for a walk in the rain -- we needed milk anyway -- to look for puddles.  As luck would have it, there were plenty of puddles to choose from and the boys needed very little (none actually) encouragement to get in and splash around.  Isaac got really into it and several times landed on his behind (accidentally? -- probably not).  Aidan, in the spirit of being fully prepared, wore his mask -- I had to talk him out of the flippers.  Owen was a little cautious but still had no problem getting in there and proudly dumped his boots out when we got home.  Laurel watched from a safe vantage point ... maybe next time.

We got our milk, stopped and watched the potter working in her window studio on Main street -- that alone was worth the trip, the boys were fascinated -- and arrived home wet and a little less fidgety.  What's a few more clothes added to the laundry pile, right?