Making Things

In case you're wondering, this above is our DIY Darth Vader. He's made out of towel roll tube, a paper cup, some black felt, stickers and little plastic pieces all painted black and hot-glued together.

Did I tell you that M is off his wanting to be an astronaut thing? So much so that he doesn't even care to go to NASA. Plus he actually suggested to tear down his big cardboard rocket! He gave us three reasons as to why the change of heart:

1. The International Space Station is too small, no place for running around;

2. Astronauts have to be there for long stretches of time;

3. Astronauts have to train in a huge pool and train under water.

This is a clone trooper wind-up toy we found at the flea market for $1. He's in a secret rebel hide-out. There's also a capsule waiting for lift-off.

For a period of about 2 days he wanted to be Mickey Mouse and that got me worried. Knowing how he really get into these things and stays with his "themes" for a while, I was afraid of having to sing "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggidy dog..." and speak in a very high-pitched voice for months.

This plane has nothing to do with Star Wars. We went to a Trader Joe's store and M noticed all the planes made from recycled things and pieces of cardboard. So M immediately wanted to have a plane made out of junk. We didn't have anything for a fuselage, so we had to promptly drink a can of V8. We also used a paper cup, some cardboard from old boxes, 2 wooden spools, some wire and, of course, loads of ducttape.

Fortunately, he moved on. He's into Star Wars now, big time. Which is kind of a mixed blessing. Turns out, Star Wars has a ton of toys and every single one of these toys is very expensive. And the old ones are called "collectibles" and cost even more than the new ones. How inconvenient!

This is a Jedi Starfighter made out of some tubes we got at Scrap Exchange, another paper cup and some Popsicle sticks. Actually, M figured out how to arrange the pieces by himself and then Chris glued them together with hot glue.

But never fear! Fortunately at this point M doesn't care if a toy is store-bought or home-made. Actually, I take that back. He prefers home-made toys, the junkier the better. So lately there's been a lot of toy making at our house. We're actually starting to run out of spare parts. Hence the recent trip to Scrap Exchange. Our hot glue expenditures went up dramatically as well, but still we are ok compared to having to buy all these toys.

This strange contraption is a Probe Droid of the kind that Darth Vader sends out to find Luke Skywalker. This one is made out of some plastic containers from Whole Foods, a toilet paper tube, shoe laces, more spools, some beads and various odds and ends. M's contribution (other than helping figure out which part to use where) was creating the probe's tentacles.

Of course, now all the toys are Star Wars themed - Darth Vader, various spaceships and escape capsules, droids, etc.

This is Scrap Exchange, our new most favorite place to go explore when in Durham.

Weeks 8 and 9 - Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

These two weeks zoomed by so fast that didn't have a chance to update my blog. Things were constantly changing. For example, in the space of 3 days our departure date (from NY) changed 4 times!

As you might know, Chris had to come home earlier than planned because he took a nasty fall (actually, a series of 7 or so nasty falls). As a result, he is on crutches for the next few weeks. What was at first thought to be a nasty sprain is in fact a full-blown fructure. So here ya go - a BIG change.

Then a bit out of a blue I had a pretty big and extremely urgent project for one of my clients. In fact, I was so busy with it that I had to put a few other biz projects on the back burner. And then I had to catch up on those...

But we still managed to have some fun and get some stuff other than work done.

During our last week or so in NY, M got into building with unit blocks. Most of the stuff he built was part of his Space Exploration program - a house for the astronauts (see above), another building where they'd train for the missions (see below), a launch complex, a hangar for the space shuttle, etc.

There was also a huge change in how he built them. He used to ask me for help balancing the blocks or even coming up with design ideas. But lately he's been building completely on his own. Which obviously makes me very happy and proud.

Now the only thing he asks from me is to take his picture next to his latest creation.

The weather cleared up some. Even though it still remained very cold, at least the snow melted. It started to feel like spring! Change in the weather meant that M and Grandpa could finally launch some real rockets. You can imagine the excitement!

No snow meant that we could finally go to a playground. Sure, there was mud all over the place, but that just upped the fun factor. Except on the first day when it was so cold that after about 20 minutes M asked me if we could go home already.

In our last week in NY we spent quite a lot of time in the backyard. M got to sit in Grandpa's new airplane! And check out the first greens in Grandma's veggie garden. We also played soccer with this huge dirty mostly deflated Chuck E. Cheese-themed ball. Even Grandpa got in on the action.

We also built this structure (above) from a playhouse someone junked and Grandpa picked up months ago. Do you know what this is? Nope, it's not a house or a castle. And it's not a rocket or a space station or a space shuttle.

Ok, I'm going to tell you - it's a ship. A regular ocean-going ship. M was the captain and I was both the crew and the passengers. My responsibilities were few and consisted mostly of saying "Ay Ay, Captain!". The captain, on the other hand, stayed very busy making snacks and coffee in the galley, appearing on the deck only to fight sharks.

Back indoors we did a couple of projects. I came up with one after seeing this idea on a couple of blogs. This is an art-science project since it combines painting with pendulum action. The set up is very simple - a funnel suspended from a broomstick and filled with paint. It got pretty messy, but M was really into it (and he still doesn't like messing with paint). In fact, he chose the colors and operated the pendulum. He then got into mixing colors with a stirring stick.

The second project was M's own invention. He actually got so into it that he was at it for almost 2 hours straight and then continued on and off for the next couple of days. The setup was much more elaborate and included a printer paper box, some leftover cardboard (from building our hexbug habitat), a large pot, an old broken tripod, lots of sticks, pinecones, and pieces of wood and a space heater (set on low for safety). So what do you think this whole thing is? Ok, I'm going to tell you right away 'cause you won't guess in a million years. Ready? It's a machine for making rainbow-colored hay from ground lunar stones (which explains the moon on the floor in the backgroud). At least it was that on Day 1. On Day 2 the setup was simplified a bit and became a bonfire so we could all warm ourselves up.

In between all this fun we also managed to make it to Brighton Beach. I promised myself not to get M more Russian books this time (I bought him a ton in the last few weeks). But you know me - I can't resist good books. And the ones I saw at the Kids' World store were fantastic. Plus Grandpa insisted on footing the bill. So M got about 6-7 more books, including an awesome Encyclopedia of Space Exploration, this time - in Russian. Then I went to the bookstore for grownups and bought a few more books, this time - for myself, mostly about Russian history and language.

And then it was time to pack and leave. We had to get a mini-van to fit all the stuff we were taking with us even though I left quite a few books and toys and most our winter clothes in the attic. But in all fairness, we had 3 adults, a child, a cat and a pair of crutches to fit into the car. Why 3 adults? My brother volunteered to help us with the move back (I told ya last year - he is (mostly) an angel). And now we're finally back home! Well, we've actually been back for almost a week already, but that's another story.

Hex Bug Nano - So Kewl!

Ok, so M chose a hex bug at the Liberty Science Center gift shop. Which was fine by me since a) it wasn't about space, b) it was small, c) it was much less expensive than most other stuff in the shop.

Next day we played with the hex bug (by the way, M chose the Nano, a bug that looks like and acts like a roach). First, we built a small enclosure for it with the blocks. Then we gradually expanded it and made it into a maze with several rooms. Along the way we figured that we had to reinforce the corners, otherwise the Nano was going to bang its head against them until a small crack would appear. Then just like a real roach, it'd squeese through and run away.

After building several versions of block mazes, we came up with a better idea. We cut a few "doors" in an empty cardboard box, turned it upside down trapping Hex underneath and tried to guess which door it'd run out of. Sometimes it'd run out of one door only to immediate run into a door next to it. That was a lot of fun.

Then I wrote numbers above each door. I kept it simple - 1,2,3. We counted out 10 beads for the Nano to eat. Depending on which door it'd run out of, we'd give him that exact number of beads. M especially loved this game.

Then I tried surrounding some of the exits with enclosures of different geometry - a rectangle, a triangle and a semi-circle, to see which ones the Nano would negotiate faster (find its way back to the door it came out of). This wasn't particularly exciting though since the Nano kept getting stuck in the corners where enclosures were taped to the walls.

I knew that we could buy a whole habitat for the Hex. It also doubles as a battle arena. But it looked very boring. Plus I didn't care to spend any more money and buy any more plastic stuff that we'd have to bring back with us. So instead we decided to create our own Nano habitat. M and I sat down, decided on various obstacles and general layout.

Then we raided our junk pile and recycling box to find tubes, wires, cardboard boxes, and plastic cups for a labyrinth. The end result was a bit unexpected. By the time we finished gluing down the last piece of the habitat, our Nano got lost. We couldn't find it anywhere and so ended up going to the store to buy a new one.

Week 6 - Too Much Space

This morning started off with M telling everyone in the house his last night's dream:

"I flew into Outer Space in a space pod. And then I launched a whole lot of satellites into orbit. And even Darth Vader. And then Darth Vader started shooting at the rocks on the Moon."

Oh, and M doesn't pronounce "th" yet, so it comes out as "Darhhh Vader". Super cute!

And that pretty much sums up the theme of this week - rockets, cosmos, astronauts.

We did get snow again on Monday. Fortunately, my brother was here to help digg us out. This is getting really old and I can't wait to get back to Raleigh and its 70-degree weather.

M was so busy helping his uncle to clear the snow, build with blocks, and then going to my uncle Victor's birthday, that he didn't do much space stuff.

Then there was Tuesday. It started off with M building a rocket. Unlike all the previous ones where I'd help him put it all together, this one was all his work. From the choice of spare parts - cardboard tubes from toilet paper and towel rolls, a wine cork, cut-up paint chips, stickers and lots of sticky tape - to the design, to gluing/taping it all together, it was all his work!

He even came up games to play with his rocket. One was "Rocket Landing on the Moon" and the other one - "Rocket Landing on a Wild Planet".

That same day we went to my aunt Sofia's to enjoy birthday dinner leftovers (delish!!!) and M got to play with his cousin (or second cousin? I can never figure these things out in English).

It was a great playdate - they played lots of different games, listened to stories, helped Grandma Sofia bake a cake, ate it, played some more, watched cartoons... Total success.

Wednesday was pretty much the re-run of Tuesday. We started by building another toilet paper rocket. Then went to play with M's cousin at Grandma Sofia's house (more yummy food).

Then there was Thursday. My parents had to go to the Russian Counsulate in Manhattan and we tagged along. Well, not like I care much about the counsulate. But it's just a mile or so from the Museum of Natural History. Hello, Hayden Planetarium!!!

I expected parents to get stuck at the counsulate for 3-4 hours (not an unreasonable expectation), but they were done in just 2. Aparently, the place is becoming more efficient if not less rude. So we had just enough time to catch a show at the planetarium, then watch the Big Bang pre-show. Then M ran around the Rose Center of Earth and Space (spending most of his time in the Space part of it).

Then I managed to get him into the North American Mammals exhibit for a few short minutes. Yes, I did have to bribe him, promised him to stop by the gift shop next. At the gift shop he said that he only wanted "things about cosmos" and ended up choosing an Apollo Program poster, a DVD called "Visual Encyclopedia of the Universe" and a set of tiny plastic astronauts that also included Skylab, Apollo 13 control module and the Moon rover.

We got home just in time to watch Discovery's last launch live on NASA TV, whole 40 minutes of it (including pre-launch coverage).

Since then it's been nothing but "space stuff" around here. From pretend-play to building an elaborate launch pad to inventing more rockets to dreaming of Darhh Vader shooting moon rocks from the orbit.

Ah, we also built a volcano this weekend (if you're wondering about the pinkish color - it's Olympus Mons). And we made a seed collection for M to take up to the ISS so he can grow veggies hydroponically and surprise NASA.

And that was Week 6. Just three more weeks to go.

Week 5 - Half-Way Home

Just 5 more weeks or so before my stronger half gets back and we head back to NC. Let's see, what were we doing this week...

Ah, so M got sick. So we pretty much stayed home most of the week. And since we stayed home, we made stuff, mostly toys but also a magazine.

First, we made the TIE Fighter using a toilet paper roll, some empty tea candle holders, styrofoam ball (big mistake since it managed to both absorb a ton of spray paint and melt in the process), left-over styrofoam take-out containers and some odds and ends.

Then we made a robotic capsule that uses two kinds of fuels (disgusting syrup and liquid methane, as explained by M). Then we played a bit with it pretending that it first landed on a wild planet full of hungry dinosaurs and then - on the Moon.

We also made a drawbot, but I can't find a picture of it so I'll post it later. Tomorrow we're staying home again 'cause M is not completely over his cold. So we plan on making another bot, this one - to knock the building blocks down and then to have an epic fight with the drawbot.

Another thing we tried making was our own magazine. M seemed to be interested. You see, I bought him an issue of Popular Mechanics that he really wanted 'cause it had a picture of a giant space ship on the cover. But turns out, the actual article wasn't very long and, more importantly, didn't have many pictures at all.

I suggested that if he was to publish his own magazine, he can control what stories appear in it. He, of course, said that the magazine had to be only about the Outer Space. In fact, he wanted it to be called "The Cosmos Magazine". So we went through our collection of clippings and M put together a cover.

Then he chose two pictures - the Moon and the Big Dipper - and created stories about them. I, of course, wrote them down. He then wanted an article about galaxies, but didn't want to come up with any more stories himself. So he went to ask Grandpa for a story and that's how we ended up with an interview.

Also, before M got sick we went to a lake nearby. The weather was very nice and M wanted to get some decomposing bark for some experiments. I asked him what kind of experiments and he relied "I am going to pour some water into a bowl and put bark into water and wet it and then I will observe what happens". He did collect enough bark and then he did do the experiment. Afterwards I asked him about his observations. His response: "The bark got wet, floated, but didn't change at all".

So that's about it. This weekend we'll be doing a ton of kitchen experiments, I guess. Oh, and go on a walk to look for bunnies 'cause M wants to catch one and bring him home and feed him bunny food and call him "Zaika".

Week 4 - Birthday

Posting late, but things piled up here. Ok, it's getting late and I still hope to get to bed before midnight at least once in two weeks, so I better get to the point.

Last week was M's birthday. He turned 4. Yippie!!! Babushka took a day off at work and we planned on having a very private birthday party on Wednesday evening, followed by a larger family party on Saturday. Except Grandma got sick first thing on Monday.

We still tried to have a bit of a private party on Wednesday - opening the gifts, playing with them, buying the cake, decorating it and ordering a giant pizza.

So, the gifts. First of all, M is not used to that many gifts. He usually gets 1 gift from us and whatever money he gets from all the grandparents, we just spend them on some kind of cool activities later on (kids museum, zoo, IMAX, etc). This time M got 3 gifts on his birthday and some more the next day. I think he got overwhelmed. Next year we'll try going back to 1 gift on his birthday. But here's what he got:

WALL-E - this was the most exciting gift of the day. M loves WALL-E and this little 'bot truly made his day. He took it with him everywhere and spent half the morning pushing it around the house collecting "trash" (bits of string and paper that I sprinkled liberally around the living room).

M later insisted on building a house for WALL-E so the little bot has some place to hide from the dust storms. And so we made one out of the big box WALL-E was shipped in. And then M made some "treasures" for WALL-E to collect, including a big necklace out of plastic beads.

Unit Blocks - not as exciting, but excellent edutoy. Plus it works on his muscle control skills. First thing he built was a gate and a castle which was later renamed into a planetarium.

Lego Duplo set - this is M's first Lego set and I hope not the last one. I hope to add a few more Duplo blocks to it in the future (once we're back in NC). I think adding more bricks would help retain his interest since this set is very specific and there are not enough spare bricks left over to build anything else around the construction site.

Tinkertoys - huge hit! Right away M built something that he called a rocket. Then - something else that he called a camera. He walked around the house with it stopping to take pictures. But the "camera" kept falling over. So he said: "This camera is not very high quality and it's not stable. But it takes very good pictures!"

Jedi Starfighter - M hasn't watched any of the Star Wars movies, but I got him a $0.50 copy of an Encyclopedia of Star Wars Vehicles (or some such title) at a local library sale and he is in love! His dream is to make Death Star, but I told him he has to get much better at Legos before we get him this kit. So he was beyond excited when one of his gifts turned out to be a model of Jedi Starfighter "just like one in the book, Mama!"

Then there was the cake. M wanted a cake that's "about Outer Space". And we planned on baking him one the day of his birthday. Except, of course, that Grandma got sick and I have no idea how to bake cakes (Chris is the baker, remember). Fortunately, a day or so before getting ill, Grandma and M made some gingerbread cookies for decorating the cake. So then I took M to a local bakery and he chose a cherri cheesecake 'cause it was red like Mars.

Then we decorated the gingerbread cookies. I decorated the astronauts, the rocket, the stars and the dog. And M decorated a round cookie and said it was our planet, Earth. Then we put it all together. So here's the deal - the cake was renamed into Moon. The rocket became Apollo 11 lunar module. The astronaut on the right is Neil Armstrong. The one on the left is Yuri Gagarin (yeah, I know, should've been Buzz Aldrin, but M was doing the naming and he wanted it to be Gagarin). The dog is Laika, the first animal in orbit. Stars - self-explanatory. They are all looking at our Earth. How cool was that!

The party on Saturday was cancelled, but Grandma felt well enough on Sunday to be left alone. So Grandpa, M and I went to a place called Peddler's Village in Lahaska, PA. It's a very pretty village, even in winter. But it's mostly boutiques and restaurants. However, they do have this awesome Giggleberry Fair that is totally worth the 2-hour drive (one way).

First, we went to an arcade. M's never been to one and had a ton of fun trying all the different games. Then he rode on a carousel lion. And then we went to the Giggleberry Mountain. I can't even begin to describe it. It's huge and awesome and so much fun. At first I only got M a ticket, but it looked so awesome that I ended up buying a ticket for myself as well. It's this huge multi-story maze with slides and rope ladders and tunnels and air cannons and a huge Giggleberry Fountain. Oh, and check it out, they have a 3-story tall spiral slide. I wanna go back again!

Maybe we'll get to go one more time before we go back to NC. It'd be great to go there with Chris though.