High Maintenance Mom

"We have the good Legos at school", my son tells me as we look at all the fabulous Lego sets in their enticing boxes. "Which ones", I ask concentrating on picking a set I would like to build. "The ones without the instructions." It takes me about a minute to figure out, with B's help, that the "good ones" are any Legos in a big box that you can use to build whatever you want. At age five I was looking to graduate B from the Duplos to the "big kid Legos" but he didn't seem to want to relive my youth with me. The realization that he wanted a big box of pieces or in my mind, the aftermath of buying a few sets, loosing a few pieces, and putting everything that was left into a box, felt like waking rested from a coveted nap to a quiet house...

I'm not sure what goes through your mind when you look at certain toys but I often find myself fast forwarding through the first few days of new toy nirvana to the part where I have to pick everything up or we loose a piece or a piece breaks. I'm not saying that every purchasing decision is based on complicated calculations that weigh my kids' enjoyment, the amount of free time I will get if I make the purchase, the amount of frustration it will bring, how much space it will take up in my house, the perceived educational value, memories from my childhood, and a piece dispersion factor that takes into account the number of pieces and the likelihood they will be returned to a toy bin, but I do think about it. So while Legos are likely to end up everywhere in the house, and really do hurt if you step on one by accident, I perceive their value to be well worth the clean up time.

Armed with my new knowledge that we didn't need to buy every set, we started B with a tub (LEGO® Set). Building with the small pieces was still more difficult than the Ultimate LEGO® DUPLO®s but he was proud of what he could build. Our real turning point came when I bought a few individual wheel pieces at a Lego Store. All of the sudden he could make cars and trucks that rolled. Our early ones were a flat piece with a few wheels on the bottom but they were hours of fun. Since then, we have added more pieces to our collection and one set that will most likely never be the original fire truck again.

There are so many Lego Sets, here are a few to give ideas -

• LEGO® City Advent Calendar (7907) - get a new piece everyday for 25 days
• The starting Lego sets Ultimate LEGO® Building Set, LEGO® Set, or LEGO 4+ Basic Bulk Set
• LEGO City Ambulance, part of the Lego Rescue Pack CITY Essential Vehicles Collection 66175, which contains multiple vehicles you can build
• Lego LG-9269 Wheels - a set of just wheels and wheel components
• LEGO COMMUNITY PEOPLE SET - a set of people
• Ultimate LEGO® DUPLO®s - a large set of duplos. The LEGO EDUCATION LG-9230 DUPLO TOWN SET is also a great starter set. Our three year-old can put a few pieces together and likes the sets with the wheels and construction themes. Many boys develop the fine motor skills later than girls so toys kids can build with are great for everyone.
• DUPLO® LEGO Ville Cement Mixer (4976) - one of the construction theme Duplos.
• DUPLO® LEGO Ville Friendly Zoo (Mega Set), LEGO DUPLO Zoo Set, or just the animal pieces DUPLO® LEGO Ville Baby Zoo V70 (4962) - because it's fun to play with animals. My kids build houses for animals and trucks.
• DUPLO® LEGO Ville Doll's House (4966) - there are lots of pink Legos and Duplos too.
• The DUPLO® LEGO Ville Horse Stables (4974) with bigger pieces and the Lego Stable Set with the smaller pieces.

And you can always check the Lego store for special deals.