Marble Works

 For Christmas William received "Marble Works" and Dom received "Gear Factory".  I am partial to marble works because of the complexity of the set up.  However, as my sage neighbor pointed out, the kids are able to play with the gears completely on their own, so I may very well re-evaluate my feelings in the near future.  However, for now, it sticks.  I thoroughly enjoy setting up the marble runs.  And I also love watching William play with it.

 Will and I set up this particular run one afternoon when Dom and Molly were napping.  Between soccer twice a week and waking up at 6 for the day, Dom has to catch up on rest occasionally.  Will, apparently, does not.  As nice as it would be to have all three kids asleep in the middle of the afternoon, I try to use these rare times to get to know my second son a little better as an individual.  He is incredibly independent and very clever.  The way he is putting the marbles in the run was entirely his idea.  And I have to say, seeing all of the marbles go through at once is a lot more fun than just one at a time.

 He started out by putting them in one at a time and halting them at a certain point with his finger before letting them all roll at once.  I helped him modify this a bit with a small stamp that could be used in place of his finger.  I left him to his innovations and came back to discover he'd put them all in some spare piping like a test tube.  At first I didn't see them and started lecturing him about not losing the marbles, especially when Molly is around.  He kept telling me they were "right there", and then he finally lifted up the "test tube" at which point all of the marbles rolled in opposite directions. But, Molly helped us retrieve all of them.

So often, I think of Dom and Will as playmates and Molly as a baby.  But, lately, Molly is definitely more of a playmate than a baby....  30 months is not a huge separation, and it is neat to see Will and Molly interact.  Which, obviously I have to watch whenever marbles are in use.  Molly does a pretty good job of only putting them through the run and not in her mouth, but sometimes the temptation is just too great...Heck, I even catch Will with them in his mouth on occasion

 And finally, a random picture of my bread.  Will took this picture and I figured I would crop it.  In the background you can see a picture of a clown that Dom drew using a step-by-step guide.  You ought to see mine!  It looks awesome...but then again, I am 31...Ok, just be impressed by the bread.  I will not tell you how simple it is to make.