One thing I love about my son Julio (5/12), is his strong personality and zest for life. It has given me lots of headaches, but also lots of joy. The child laughed before he turned 2 months old. Not smiled. Not cooed. We're talking full-on belly laugh. Check out this picture of him at 10 1/2 months in our bidet in Venezuela (don't worry, we didn't actually use it for its intended purpose). It is a perfect depiction of his character as a baby.
When he has an interest, it becomes the center of his little life. First it was Hot Wheels cars. The kid LOVES cars. When he was really little, like 15 months, I used to get a sort of "poltergeisty" feeling when I would walk into a room that he had been in and see all of his little cars, arranged in a perfectly straight line, all facing the same direction.
Next came the "puzzler" phase; and who could forget the Spiderman phase? Yep, those are underwear on his head.
When he was about 3 his Lego's phase started and is still going on strong. Completely symmetrical aircraft are his specialty. Guapo is convinced that he is going to be some kind of engineer when he grows up.
His latest obsession is paper airplanes.
I am going crazy because I can't keep any kind of white paper out or it will be folded up faster than you can say "deforestation". I did not know this, but apparently, if the paper "has words on the back", it cannot be used in the making of paper airplanes. Last week I bought myself a nice new ream of white copy paper and I hid it on the top shelf of a cupboard in my closet; later that day I entered the closet to find a footstool in front of the open cupboard and the ream on a more obtainable level. (As I write this it is under a pile of clothes in a drawer in my closet.)
So, here are a couple of photos to show you what my house is looking like these days. The first is a photo of airplanes that I collected in ONE day. Just one day. And this has been going on for weeks.
Here are a few of the best ones (pretty good for a 5 year old, don't you think?):
And here's one I found just this morning made out of a George Washington (I guess he hasn't discovered the stash of paper yet)
Any obsessions going on in your home?
10 comments:
Definitely headed for a career as an aeronautical engineer. Either that or and origami expert. Time will tell
too fun- i have one with a strong engineering bent (comes at it genetically) who designed a measuring device out my easel the other day-- used for ascertaining and comparing the size of food cans.... love the bidet- we had one when we lived in turkey-- i remember walking in for the first time - age 8 and saying-- look mom a little sink-- HAHAHA-little did i know!- yep we never used to for its intended purpose-- funny to think people actually do-- enough to install them in their homes-- thanks for coming round the blog--
I should also have given you the paper airplanes in my house! They're nice colored ones that I was astounded to see all over the second floor. Julio has been teaching my daughter how to make these airplanes. He was very patient (he also taught me how)because my daughter kept on wanting to make a paper flower! Good luck in the future because after seeing my 3 brothers grow up, I'm sure Julio will have a lot more "interests" in the years to come. I love the bidet picture!
That's an amazing talent - both airpolane folding and paper finding. The kid is awesome!
It always amazed me how Julio would have approx. 30 little matchbox cars lined up in a particular way and grandpa would change one just a little or put it backwards. And Julio, around the age of 2, would go crazy. He knew exactly how he wanted them and was such a perfectionist. This was always a fun game for grandpa to see how much he could frustrate him. Remember?
Oh yes, I remember! :)
He is a paper snob. Scratch paper is out of the question. It must be fresh and clean with "no words on the back". His paper airplanes are good, but his lego airplanes are really surprising. Perfect symmetry - better than I can do.
Hmmm...Maybe he'll be a pilot. You guys do fly quite a bit. Sweet! Free rides for all!
I have the solution to this enigma. It is a little-known fact that his paternal grand-father was a paper plane folder in his childhood. Went on to models and U-control airplanes... and look at him now! A broken-down old dude who never really made it in the airplane industry (he tried), nearly flunked out of engineering in college, and was able to graduate only by changing to some "mickey" major.
With that shaky start, he has always looked for the fuzzy fields in order to blog his way in life, taking people's money and acting like he knew what he was doing. With some practice, he has been able to do this with a straight, serious face and actually eke out a living....
With this family history, don't count on space-craft engineering or some romantic, exotic flying career out of the little paper-folding fanatic. He may well fizzle just like his grand-father.
I almost forgot, and must add a footnote!
Julio's great grand-father was an engineer and worked for Ryan Aviation in San Diego as a young man. He actually helped build the Spirit of St. Louis - the famous Lindberg plane.
He also went on to become a successful engineer, inventing the portable drilling rig and some stell-hardening processes. He even made "heavy water" for the Hanford Atomic Research Lab during WWII.
He also ended up in Venezuela and shares the same name with Julio, so maybe there could be hope for little Julio, if there is some generation-skipping going on.
I must say that neither father nor grand-father provide much hope....
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