My Brainy Builder

So today was Eli's third installment of Brainy Builders. He enjoys it while he's there, but he resists me a little each Wednesday morning when I remind him that he won't be riding the bus home. I think that has more to do with the extended day than the actual activities. He and his fellow Brainy Buddies are learning to make all kinds of cool structures: rockets, birds, "wheeled vehicles for space flight".

Today was especially hard for me. I missed my little man SO much, especially in the last hour while he was at Brainy Builders. When Maddie and I picked him up, he held my hand as we walked back to the car. The kid was exhausted. He smiled sweetly at me and told me he missed me too. When he got into his seat I went around to his side and gave him a big hug and told him how much I'd missed him (again). He said, "Well Mom, then just un-register me and I don't have to go anymore." Smart kid.

Brainy Builders

Last week we signed Eli up for an after school activity called Brainy Builders. It's a cool 'playing with a purpose' group that meets once a week to build with legos and similar manipulatives. There is always a 'task' that usually involves fun and creativity.

Yesterday was Eli's first meeting and he loved it. Each child was given the instruction to build a bird, on their own. The teacher opened the class by discussing a "base" through balance, width, and height. She used the example of her feet as a base for her body, and moved them around to show how they affected her ability to stand up or fall down.

Eli got to name his bird too (I believe it was "Squaky"), which is always a challenge. Both kids have been less than creative in the name department to date. Maddux usually names her animals 'pig', or 'mouse', no matter how much coaxing or example-giving I do.

The teacher sent a few pictures (low-res) for us to enjoy; she's making my blogging-job easy :)