February Vacation

How is our February Vacation going?  You ask.

I keep running into friends and neighbors from Elsie's school (preschool through 2nd grade).  I often run into these friends in the morning, when our kids are playing happily with their friends at school.  Usually we smile serenely with each other, and squeeze in a few minutes of precious chitchat, maybe even sit down for a quick cup of tea after picking up the groceries in a few efficient minutes.

This week, things look a little different.  Kids are in tow.  Meltdowns are imminent.  We moms and dads greet each other, then ask each other this question:

"So how's it going?"  

Then we look at each other like deer stuck in the headlights and smile big, ironic, Cheshire-cat smiles, give a big thumbs up and say,

"Oh.  Great.  You know."

Wink wink.  Nod nod.

Subtext: "Whose bright idea was February Vacation, anyway?  Certainly not a parent's!"  Or maybe, "I can't believe I am taking half of my year's vacation to drag my squabbling kids through this here checkout line."

We are all parents who love our children.  Love spending time with our children, too.  But we are also parents who have come to rely on and to adore a few morning hours of education for our children and quiet for ourselves -- be that quiet at work or quiet at home or quiet at the grocery store.

***

Today, I took Elsie to the toy store with the express purpose of buying her a toy.  I had to laugh at myself. It is only Wed.  And I'm already taking her to the toy store to buy her a toy!?  Mustn't make a habit of this.

On the other hand, it might be the best idea ever.  We manage to keep Elsie's toy collection to a downright minimal level.  Yesterday, after playing with some interlocking blocks at a friend's house, Elsie looked up at me very sweetly, gave a wistful sigh, and said, "Mommy, I love Duplo.  I wish that we had some at our house."

I thanked my lucky stars that she was wishing for Duplo and not the Bratz dolls.  I thought to myself, yes, Duplo are great!  And resolved that I would get this girl some Duplo.

There happens to be a small, locally owned toy store in the nearest shopping complex that also has a drug store, hardware store, knitting shop, and stationary store (my errand list this morning).  Perfect.  Elsie survived all this shopping without breaking anything, smearing snot on anything, or throwing any tantrums when she had to put toys back.  It was time for the toy store.

***

Ten out of ten engineers agree: if you have to buy brand-name on only one item in your entire house, make it LEGO.

This sounds like a joke, but it is true.  I hang out with a lot of engineers, and they care about brand name on absolutely nothing the way they care about brand-name on interlocking blocks.  This is a hot topic of conversation whether or not the engineers have children.  The difference, they'll tell you, is in the tolerances.  LEGO brand uses extremely tight tolerances, which is why their blocks click together seamlessly and sturdily enough to build extremely tall structures without wobbling or leaning -- and yet, snap apart again with ease.  That's why they're so much more expensive than the other kind.  It's the tolerances.

I was psyched, and so was Elsie -- but at the toy store, I was faced with an unexpected problem: no basic sets.  There was the farm set, and the motercycle set, and the construction set, and the odious pink and purple girl power set (with even fewer basic blocks than the others!)  No big box of rectangular blocks.

I talked to the shop woman about it.  "I know."  She said.  "I like the basic kits, too.  Better for creativity.  But they don't sell.  Try craigslist."

The more grownup LEGOs are even worse.  It's all Harry Potter and Star Wars.  Everything is branded.  For example  they no longer sell the kind of generic desert island kit that was my favorite as a child.  Those were replaced with Pirates of the Carribean!  Disney, TM.  My other childhood set, the hospital, has probably been replaced by ER, complete with a George Clooney lookalike lego.  I'm dating myself with that one, but I have no idea what the go-to hospital drama is these days.

Fortunately, you can still get basic kits of boring, educational, engineer's-dream blocks.  You can get them used (they command a pretty penny on ebay), or you can get them straight from the LEGO website.

Elsie and I walked out of the shop with a small, unoffensive farm kit.  I ordered a supplemental basics box while she played with her new toy in the living room.

Lucky girl.

And lucky me.  The kit kept her entertained long enough to get chili in the slow cooker AND write a blog!