Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Number One Son is, like most ten year olds, pretty bad with his money (in my stodgy, fatherly opinion). My exhortations to save his money tend to fall on deaf ears. But he is a Lego fan, so at some point I told him that if he would save up half the $260 price tag for the Lego Mindstorms base set, I would pay for the other half. I was a little skeptical when he took me up on it, but he saved his money all summer and, with, I suspect, more than a little help from some grandparents, made the goal last week. He was pretty enthusiastic about it-- he started building the "humanoid" robot Alpha Rex without any instructions, just eyeballing the box! I slowed him down a bit, got the electronic instructions installed on the computer, and encouraged him to start the intro kit. His Shooterbot shot all the gaming group that came over last night for some Race for the Galaxy. I woke up this morning to find him already up, the Shooterbot disassembled, and most of Alpha Rex built. I think to him, it's not a robot if it's not humanoid. He keeps talking about how he has a toy robot, and I keep trying to convince him that, no, this is a real robot. I think it's starting to sink in.

Take It From a Professional

Face First into Legos
Originally uploaded by The Gonk

You don't want to fall face first into anything. But if you have to fall face first into something, you don't want that something to be a Lego creation. Those precised edges can be painfully sharp with just a little force behind them! Number Two Son fell onto Number One Son's Lego boat. It was a pretty minor fall, so I wasn't to concerned at first, but the blood just kept coming! Not visible are a busted lower lip and a torn upper gum! At least he kept his teeth-- unlike Number One Son who knocked one out at about this age...