This Lego Set Says Ages 9-14, and is 573 pieces.
The set needed a bit of adult assistance - Kiernen's words were, "This one is harder, Mama!"
He was getting a little bit worked up. So I had him look me in the eye, breathe, and I told him calmly, "We can do this. I am here to help you. We CAN do this. We might need to take some breaks when it gets to be too much, but we WILL do this."
On each page, we'd go over which step number it was - he was reading the numbers PAST 20 in no time (he could already read the first 20). We'd look at the top of the page to see how many of which pieces we'd need to complete that step. We would hunt through the pile of pieces (no pre-sorting for us!) and find what we needed, then Kiernen would put the pieces where the picture showed us to put them.
This set has three different bags of pieces (conveniently labeled so you only need to have one bag open at a time for the steps you're on).
Note: As with most things, the more tired one becomes, the more mistakes one makes, and consequently, the more frustrated one becomes. Frequent breaks and rest are recommended in these situations.
It was interesting for me to watch how Kiernen made the connections about the difference in putting the Lego together when it is flipped over. (You have to flip all of the pieces upside-down). I was fascinated to essentially be watching new neural pathways being formed before my eyes as with each piece on the upside-down part he'd try to put it on, then realize he needed to flip it to get it to work. Brilliant!
Our process went like this: on Day 2, we got up and made ourselves a healthy breakfast. We got everything ready, and then we got to work building slave 1.We worked on it the whole day, taking frequent breaks to eat, stretch our legs, refresh ourselves, play, make tea. And then when we felt ready, we'd return to the task.
Kiernen really did build most of this ship. I only helped at a minimum - when something was REALLY tricky to get on or in a really odd place. this ship is amazingly intricate - I was really impresses at how Kiernen suck with it and did this whole thing himself. And he really did. All 573 pieces.
The phone kept ringing while I was in the shower. It would ring, then go to voice mail (because to date Kiernen wouldn't answer the phone). Then the person would immediately call back. After the fourth time, I asked Kiernen to please answer the phone because it might be his Dad, and maybe an emergency.
He answered the phone, and I couldn't hear much after that. I heard some pauses, and some talking. When my shower ended, I came out to find Kiernen in the midst of what had been an entire conversation with his 9-year-old cousin, Cohen. (Who, incidentally, is also in Self Design).
I was listening then, because his first REAL phone call without his parents prompting him! They had this whole big conversation about Star Wars - Kiernen went and got his Lego star Wars book and was going through it page by page, discussing each ship or character, or the movies. They're discussing what Lego sets they have and what movies they've seen and what happens. Kiernen told his cousin that he'd watched Toy Story 3 up to the point of the scary monkey, and when the monkey came on, he cried.
This is amazing to me - he has never shown much interest in talking on the phone, but there he is - talking for almost a half hour - and I am fascinated to hear what he talks with his cousin about.
He told him he has been doing lots of jobs to make money, and how he is saving his allowance to buy the Death Star Lego set. Wow.
Just for fun, here's a photo of Kiernen with Cohen when we went Hazelnut picking this fall:
We've been playing a lot of Winnie-the-Pooh Candyland lately - Kiernen cannot seem to get enough of this game. Recently Kiernen began making "awards" for his Daddy when he wins at Candyland. He uses his rubber stamps and does a whole design with them on paper, and then presents them to his father as an award for winning. (the backstory to this is that previously, he'd gotten furious with Josh when he won at Candyland, and didn't even want to play with him for awhile. My husband can be a bit competitive and sometimes doesn't lessen this urge with kids like some adults do. Kiernen can run hot and cold with him depending on how he is relating to Kiernen at any given time, so this gesture of him accepting that his father was not only allowed to win, but be rewarded for it, was pretty big.)Josh smartly took one of his awards to work to hang in his cube and show off to his coworkers. Kiernen was of curse, delighted by this response.
Evidence that this whole money skills thing might be working:
Kiernen and I were shopping the other day, and he REALLY wanted to buy this little Boba Fett star Wars figure he'd seen the day before. He was willing to use his own money, so off we went, and while I was doing other errands, we checked out a few different stores to see if it was there. It wasn't. We'd tried about 4 different stores, and we were in one that had some pretty nifty Lego sets that he was interested in. I was telling him what he might have enough money for and he was JUST about to buy one of them (sometimes he really just wants that instant gratification of getting a new toy). He stopped and he said aloud, "No. I really want to buy Boba Fett, so I'll wait until another day and buy him."
I was SO proud in that moment! Because it has been his pattern in the past to just get whatever because he wants the instant gratification - but that day he STOPPED and chose ON HIS OWN to wait to get the toy he REALLY wanted.
YES! YES! YES!
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