Gametes In Love

I scored a very well kept Lego Duplo Zoo set off the local mom’s club this week-end. Man, I love this club!

While G is still figuring out how to put the blocks together on his own (aligning the nubs actually really IS a skill), he’s been getting some help from S and I. G in this particular case is the foreman and architect directing us, worker bees, to how he wants his structure to look.

His main priority: get every single block and animal on the structure. He was not happy until every last piece was secured before him. What resulted was a structure taller than he, and he was THRILLED!!!

To celebrate the end of construction, G ran to his toy bins, got out his biggest ball and proceeded to demolish his zoo menagerie. Seriously. Until the whole thing lay leveled to the ground he kept aiming the ball at it. S and I were laughing hysterically meanwhile to see that he invested all this hard labor and direction just to play Griffin-zilla.

I have a feeling G will really enjoy tickets to a good demolition in his future.

G has this game: he takes an old (and empty) tube container, and stands it up on end. He then takes one of his balls and balances is on top, and then likes to topple over the tube & the ball by hitting it with another. He can do this for quite some time, giggling the whole way through.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5flFBUzGVlQ]

Brother. Or butter. G’s having one of those. Not sure which though.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0CoI-iokoc]

Last week-end, we went swimming with A, R and R. While the day was gorgeous and perfect for a swim, the pool itself was one of the coldest I’ve been to in awhile. G asked for “Up Pease” a couple of times, yet when we did try to get him out of the pool, he refused to leave. Little R had the right idea and refused to go in, in the first place. Yet, our dude was happy to let his lips go purple with R’s mommy holding him just so he can get some extra water action. Oh, and yes, I braved a bathing suit this pregnancy around. I refuse to shell out mega bucks for a maternity suit, so I’m bearing LOTS in a bikini.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb85rJyfm_Q]

[while pointing at my shirt] G: Momma, down. Ball!

S: He thinks you have a ball under you shirt.

Me [while straightening the shirt and pointing to the belly]: No, buddy. Baby!

G [continuing to point]: BALL!

S [defensively]: I didn’t teach him that!

Oh yeah, this sure doesn’t give a pregnant woman a complex or anything.

S and I spent our Friday afternoon at the Honda dealership checking out the Honda Pilot. Why? We’re looking for the next car. With my car being nine years old, and S2 on the way, we’re thinking about what’s next.

I’m not thrilled with the idea of owning a giant of a car (Civic and Fit family here), but I’m considering our long term needs and local venue parking restrictions.

The one thing on my ‘must have’ list is a 3rd row. Right now with one carseat in the back, the back row will fit one person comfortably and two if they are very skinny and super friendly. With 2 carseats in the back, we might as well say good-bye to taking on any passengers. This means that whenever we have family/friends come out to visit we are tied to taking 2 cars out, AND we will have to remove the carseats out of the 2nd car to fit everyone in (since I do drop-offs, S pickups, both cars are always ready with baby seating). This idea just sucks. Also depending where we go parking one car is hard, let alone two. Hence third row demand.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any any non-SUV, non-minivan can that fulfill that requirement, so here we are looking at monster mobiles.

Additionally, I’m seeing this vehicle staying with us for a minimum of 7-10 years. We’ll be shuttling the boys and their bikes/friends/sports gear. The extra space will be a real convenience. My sister called this purchase “soccer mommish”, and I’m thinking ‘Yeah? Have you met G?’ (we’re interviewing a soccer class for him today, btw)

I’m struggling with this purchase, however, on 3 fronts:
– size. I just can’t drive a large car. I’m very uncomfortable
– ecological awareness. It’s hard to go from a 32+mpg car to one that gets at best 20mpg.
– cost. 40K for a car! Really? That’s 1/4 of a house purchase in some places!!!

So we’re hunting.

The Pilot was first because we have 3 friends that ultimately purchased this car after doing shopping on their own. S and I like it, but I’m not in love (actually I have 1  gripe about the third row) and ready to plop down money just yet. I want to see what else is out there, but above all I need to face my gripes above.

Also, we’ve talked about just getting another small car (since mine will likely need a pretty costly set of repairs coming up soon due to age/mileage) and renting a big vehicle when we have car-less family/friends in town. We need to look into this more. And make some spreadsheets (duh). We’ve idealized this scenario for car trips in the past and have NEVER done it (we got a car-hitch on my Honda with a trailer instead), so we need to figure out how realistic this will be. And yeah, it will be a 1K/week cash drop for a rental fee, but overall, cheaper than a 40K purchase… I think.

If you have any cars you feel we must check out, holler. We’ll consider Ford, but not other American makes. I’m not sure I’m ready for a minivan, though. That’s a whole separate identity I’m not ready to face.

Some shots of G and his Baba from our Bulgaria trip