Mama Diaries

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Lego War

If you've been following me a few years, you know I used to regularly put together huge Lego sets with my son.  We're talking 700 - 1500 pieces.  My boy loved the finished products, but didn't quite have the brain power to complete construction on his own. Now my boy is nine, and can handle complicated sets.  Usually.

The one he got for Christmas was a little feisty.  It was an 800 piece Star Wars Lego set.  I can't even tell you what it was without running upstairs to look at the box (which I'm not going to do).  All I know was that it was a pain in the you-know-what to put together.

"Mama," my son said. "I need help!"

I looked at what he had done and discovered an error.  I corrected it and let him continue.  Five minutes later, the same thing happened.

"Mama, I think you need to do this part.  It's too hard."

I looked at the instructions.  It was for assembling the cockpit.  I went to work and assembled about a hundred pieces worth of Legos. It took me forever, because they pieces didn't stick together properly, and when pressure was applied on one side, the other side would fall apart.  Completely annoying!  Anyway, I finished that stinking cockpit and attempted to attach it to the rest of the spaceship thingy. And do you know what happened?  Not only did the cockpit fall apart, but the entire side of the spaceship thingy fell off.

That made me mad!  I said a few choice words and grabbed a Lego cannon. I fired a cannon ball at the decrepit spaceship thingy. It toppled over.

My son couldn't believe I did that. "Mama, you destroyed it!"

"Yep.  Mama has declared a Lego war on that faulty Lego spaceship contraption thingy!  It must die!"

(For those of you who are concerned about my unnaturally violent outburst, don't worry.  I managed to complete the spaceship thingy five hours later, and my son is now happily playing with it.)   

 

36 comments:

  1. I was happy with about a hundred mismatched Legos as a kid. I can't imagine a thousand piece set!
    You fired at it - that is hilarious. Good for you.

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    1. I bet we have at least a million Lego pieces in my house from all his sets! It's a little ridiculous!

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  2. Such delight, he is so happy to have such lovely toys. I've dreamt of Legos as a kid but we were too poor and such toys didn't exist here.

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    1. I'm glad he appreciates his toys, too. We've been very fortunate to be able to afford them, but we know there are many kids in this world who can't.

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  3. My son loves anything LEGO. He won't let me help, I do it wrong.
    The one thing I wish he would do is pick them up when he is done, it never fails I step on one when I tuck him in.

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    1. Consider yourself fortunate not to have to put the sets together - but ouch! - it's no fun when you step on the pieces! My son isn't so great about putting them away, either, and I'm always the one shoving them in Ziploc bags to prevent anyone from stepping on them.

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  4. haha you ended that pain in the you know what's existence, but you can rebuild it

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  5. How frustrating! Glad everything worked out in the end.

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    1. My boy would've been very upset if I had walked away and not finished the job!

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  6. Just keep the spirit all through the year! ho ho ho

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    1. Uh oh. Santa caught me being naughty! Does this mean I'm going to get a lump of coal in my stocking next year? ;0)

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  7. Revenge is sweet! Glad it's back together now though. Good job, Bubba!

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    1. That's my son - cracking the whip to make sure Mama finishes the job!

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  8. Sometimes it is best to get the anger out!

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  9. *LOL* Sometimes you need to just let it out! :)

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    1. Is your son into Legos yet? It's unbelievable how complex some of those sets are!

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  10. Wow, 800 pieces? That took five hours to put together?! No wonder you wanted to declare war!

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    1. Usually I spread it out over several days, but yes, it takes forever to put together one of those sets!

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  11. Yeah I'd go nuts if I had to build that thing.

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    1. It's a good thing I can actually follow Lego directions, because my husband has yet to put a set together!

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  12. My grandson used to love Lego and drove his mother to despair at times. But it was all good fun. He's into soccer now........she isn't any good at that.
    Yvonne.

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    1. At least she doesn't have to worry about stepping on little Lego pieces!

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  13. I understand the Lego frustration. My son is 14 years and I think he just gave up the Lego a couple of years ago (-:
    Although, I am enrolling him in a Lego Robotics class in the spring, so maybe the love doesn't really go away

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    1. Lego robotics sounds pretty cool! Maybe I'll sign up of that class!

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  14. Not that I want you to destroy any of my stuff with a Lego cannon, but… "Will you be my mom?"…. You sound like a great mother! I miss doing things like that with my daughter.

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    1. Ha! If I'm your mom, you might experience some pretty weird things, like ham baked with the wrapper still on, science experiments gone bad, and a mom who forgets what time she's supposed to pick you up from your after-school activities! ;0)

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  15. I guess Mama became a real grouch when she fired a canon at the spaceship!

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  16. You are a genius. I can't build anything with Legos. The instructions are of no help to me.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Somehow my brain comprehends them. But I don't think I'm a genius. ;0)

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  17. My son got many Lego sets over the years for Christmases and birthdays. I remember a few of them being quite frustrating to put together. We no longer have the boxes to the sets. All the Lego pieces are mixed together in two large bins, which are stuck away in the "junk" room.

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    1. That sounds like my situation. Although I tried to keep the sets in gallon freezer bags with the directions.

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  18. I am always amazed by mothers' gift for assembling complicated sets. I was watching my sister-in law build an intricate circuit for her son. It has lots of small pieces with an unclear instruction diagram. I couldn't do it. I gave up and was amazed when she completed it.

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