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LEGO Assignment
By coolgranny in The Paradox of Long Lives
August 15, 2009

While my best bud grandson was here last week, he found a new link on the Lego website, LEGO Digital Design. He could design his own items, and then price the product. If he could have gotten permission, he would have ordered his original creations. I finally convinced him that printing his designs would just have to be enough for now. I also advised him to save his money for the future. It is my fault that he is a Lego maniac. When the younger son got married, I used that event to really clean out the toys of youth for both sons.

Both boys really enjoyed the Lego blocks and kits, but the older concentrated on HeMan and Star Wars collections. I laughed several Christmases ago, when the blond DIL bought the fancy light sword for his Santa present. It has a place of honor in his office.

My younger son got his Lego parts in two pharmaceutical boxes and boxes labeled Justin's Junk. My best bud immediately became attached and now the treasures are his. Step-dad went on line and found the original kits from his elementary and middle school years, printed them, and best bud began his obsession. My sons enjoyed making the projects, taking them apart, and then making something new. All designs were then taken apart and thrown in the boxes. Not so with best bud.

He has hundreds of projects on shelf after shelf in his room. Every time I visit, another shelf or two has been put up. We recently moved the bigger projects up, so little sister couldn't eat them. Little did I know that this hobby would also include me in the process.

Best bud showed me how to use the program while here. Granted, I was an observer and just sort of payed attention with the occasional ooh and wow and cool! That's my way of dealing with anything way above my head. At one point, he actually told me to pay really close attention to a part of the program. OK, at that point, I tuned in for real. CAD for kids was my first thought. 3-D CAD for kids was my second thought. I thought back to the tests with cubic centimeters where you had to count the cubes or decide what would come next in a pattern. I always guessed at that stuff, and probably got all answers wrong. This lack of dimensional thinking even spills into my art. I have a really hard time seeing what isn't there to give depth to my paintings. Best bud then told me what he wanted for his birthday in October. I had asked him to be thinking about it as we shopped during the week.

This eight year old child wants his MIMI to design a LEGO machine, order it, and send it to him for his special day. Folks, shouldn't I take this as a vote of confidence? I do, but I am also wondering how in the heck I will accomplish this challenge. Younger son reminded me of the LEGO lab we had at his school from first to third grade. Yes, I participated in the grant and recorded the information. I also showed the kids how to read the instructions for the moving projects and how to program them from the computer. It just evolved. I wanted a computer lab for the school, and it just seemed like a fun way to get the lab and use it to teach simple machines. It morphed into much more as the kids passed from grade to grade. After a trip back to Moss Bluff, my younger son even used the mechanical projects for a product marketing experiment for a science fair. He didn't win any prizes, but his exhibit was interactive and always crowded. He told me that these LEGO kits have become available to the public. Maybe I can sneak a mechanical kit past my best bud. At least I have a plan B.