Lego of Me, Lego

The wife and I were babysitting my 3-year-old grandson last night while his parents went out on a well-deserved anniversary dinner date alone. And that gave me an opportunity to bond with the cute tyke while the wife did the dishes.

Well, what he wanted to do was open up and play with one of his birthday presents that he'd gotten a week earlier, so I let him pick one.

Wouldn't you know it, he picked the Lego City Fire Truck kit. Now ... those of you who've helped your child put on of these together know what it's like - hundreds of tiny pieces that preschool-sized children just can't put together by themselves.

Enter grandpa, winner by default of the "Lego Construction According to the Directions" assignment.

Have you ever tried putting something like a Lego toy together while a small boy is messing around with the pieces and having fun playing with the tires while you're desperately trying to hurry up and get it done while babbling mindlessly trying to keep his attention?

Suffice to say it didn't take just 10 minutes ... or a half-hour ... or even an hour. Nope. It took me two hours to put the fire truck together, opening the three packets of Lego tiles in order, while trying to keep the related pieces and my mind in one place.

I haven't been so focused on a task in at least a couple of years.

One thing I have to say about my grandson: He's a rambunctuous boy, but he kept his cool throughout the whole time, carrying on a conversation with me about how the tires were going to the fires (his own pun!) and how he's helping.

The only consternation was when I couldn't find a couple of necessary pieces. So I skipped them, only to find them later and having to take the toy apart so I could install the stabilizing bars (in the picture with the blue tip on the side of the fire engine).

That, and the fact that I had a few pieces left over. Is that supposed to happen? Oh, and they forgot to include the black cord that was supposed to be the fire hose. And I couldn't get the ladder to hold on to the swivel. And I couldn't get the basket at the end of the ladder to attach. Did anyone see the Magic Glue?

I was sorely tempted to place the finished fire engine and rescue rubber boat on a high shelf so no one could play with it and take it apart. But that would spoil everything. So, I released custody of the darned thing to my grandson, to take apart and rearrange and jumble with every other Lego piece he has or may accumulate over the coming years.

Grandkids are fun.