Nine Weeks and Counting

Groan ... it seems Gwen is sick again. We're going to take her to the doctor tomorrow and try to see what is going on. On a brighter note, we had the ducts cleaned last week, and Gwen's cough has diminished significantly. Otherwise, we are busy -- and tired -- but fine.

As you all know, we celebrated Xavier's fourth birthday this weekend. (If you are one of the folks who gasped and said, "He's four?" you aren't the only ones, and most people say it to our face.) He received in the mail today a birthday present from his Aunt Cherie and Uncle Andrew: a new Bionicle toy (Bionicles are robots made out Legos, for the less "in tune" amongst us). Now, most of the other Bionicles he has received -- well, all two of them -- have been relatively simple affairs, but this one looked pretty complicated. Xavier wanted to put it together right away, but I was busy and -- I admit it -- not really interested in putting it together, so I said, "Let's let Daddy do it when he gets home."

Gwen piped up, "I can do it -- let me try!"

I was dubious, but I didn't want to deny her a chance to try, so I handed her the directions, asked her to limit her work area to the rug in the Family Room (so we could collect all of the pieces later when she lost interest.)

She didn't lose interest.

An hour later, the Bionicle -- which is a toy rated for 7 year olds and older -- was complete. Adam and I were stunned, not only because she managed to put it together using only the directions and her brain, but she managed to stick to one task for an hour. Furthermore, she managed to do it with her little brother sitting next to her and pestering her: "Is it almost done yet? Is it almost done yet?" I'm not sure if she has a promising future ahead of her as an engineer, a promising future ahead of her as a cheuffer of young children ("Are we there yet?" is not so far from "Is it done yet?"), or if we need to get her hearing checked.

Of course, even though she devoted an hour to putting it together and has already touched every minute piece of the Bionicle, Xavier won't let her play with it, so our house still rings with the dulcet tones of kids fighting over a toy.


We had a birthday party for Xav over the weekend (Nana and Papoo came), but he is the only kid in his class with a December birthday, so I was a shoe-in for bringing the December birthday refreshments. Xavier asked for donuts, so I figured I would pick them up on the way to the daycare center from work.

I got a later start than I had intended, and as I was heading for the donut store (a Bohemian affair in this town, with hours that vary by day, I managed to convince myself that the place closed at 3:00, and I found myself going a little faster than I intended. As I forced myself to slow down, I reminded myself that if the place closed at 3:00, I certainly wouldn't make it if I got pulled over by the police.

Then I thought to myself, "If I did get pulled over, how would the officer respond when I told him I was speeding because I was in a hurry to get donuts?"

Wish us luck at the doctor tomorrow! I'm really not keen on making it an even ten weeks in a row with someone sick.