New construction

Happy fourth of July! We actually split our celebration up over several days; on the third, friends S (of J & S) and S (of D & S) invited us to join them at the horse races. We left at 5, so Zachary finally got to have some extended playtime with his babysitter (during the winter, he was already asleep by the time she'd generally start sitting) while we had an evening out. Neither of us had ever been, and we had a lovely time. I even placed two bets on the last race with some technical assistance from J, though neither horse came in. On the plus side, after the races were done, they had an excellent fireworks display, launched right from the middle of the track; it was a longer and more impressive show than some of the Seattle ones I've seen in the past few years, and you couldn't beat the view or seats!

Mima and papa mentioned a few weeks ago that they wanted to get Zachary a playhouse for his second birthday. This past week, Zachary and I got home one afternoon to discover two large boxes in front of the garage. The original plan was to store the playhouse in the garage until mima and papa come to visit next month. But realizing that August is often already late fall for Seattle (okay, maybe not that bad), we all decided that putting it together before the visit would maximize Zachary's use of it.

So yesterday, after returning from a nice Fourth of July afternoon of hanging out with friends J & S (twice in 16 hours!) at a local park (where Meh brought some incredible strawberry cupcakes with white chocolate frosting she'd made) and putting little man to bed, we set out to begin assembly. I sorted the 40 pieces while Meh did an excellent job sorting the various bolts and washers into nicely labelled cups on a tea tray. (Only Meh could make flat-pack construction projects actually cozy!) I got three walls up before it started getting too dark and buggy -- plus the neighbors had started their 4th of July pyromaniacal ways and I wanted to avoid falling fireworks debris (after last year's "show", our yard was covered with cardboard tubes).

This morning while Zachary took his nap, I wrapped up construction. When he woke up, I let him go outside and explore his new playhouse. He went right for the windows (which Meh had rubber-banded together to keep them closed; I think I'll go invest in some magnetic strike plates today), and had no interest in the side of the house with the door until I physically led him to it and opened it. Then he was in love! He immediately ran inside and started trying to figure out how to decorate the two cute little shelves -- with combinations of his watering can and the removable sink bowl that came with the house:



The most entertaining part of assembly was seeing all of the miniaturized elements - tiny hot and cold water taps (I had to consult a real faucet to confirm that the instructions actually had hot and cold backwards), miniature shutters, a cute little doorframe overhang, the small interior shelves, and even a small mailbox - at last I've got a place to deliver all of those credit card applications he's already been getting. Thank you mima and papa for such a wonderful gift!