As I'm trying to finish up my final quarter of classes for my program I am constantly under water with work I need to do. Sometimes I have to tell Dexter that he is going to have to entertain himself while Mommy does schoolwork. Most of the time, if I give him a time limit and let him know that I'll play with him when the time is up, he is very good at keeping himself quietly occupied for an hour or two.
This weekend, I had to do some reading and Dexter had to entertain himself. I could hear him talking quietly to himself but was so immersed in my reading that I didn't know what he was actually doing. Eventually, he came over to the couch and asked me to look at his "engine museum". I told him I wasn't finished reading but when I saw the disappointed look on his face, I put my book down and let him show me his engine museum.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Dexter had taken three different
vehicles (race car, helicopter, vw bus) and next to each one had build
an oversized model of its engine using all sorts of different materials.
He proudly gave me the tour of the museum, explaining the different
engine parts and functions.
"This is the race car engine. Do you see these? [pointing to the construction vehicles positioned on either side of the train] These are the things that pump the gas into the engine." "The pistons?" I asked. "Yup, that's right, the pistons."
"This is the helicopter engine. Do you see the blade on top?" He asked me. "I do, that's what makes it look like a helicopter." "And this is the alarm," he added, pointing to the train resting on the large board precariously resting on the base." I didn't ask why an alarm or blades were parts of the engine.
"And this is the bus engine. Over here is the battery [pointing to the rounded bump at the end] and next to it is the fan to keep the engine cool." I asked what the long part extending out from the fan was. "That's just a model of the inside of the bus."
I was amazed and tears welled up in my eyes. "Are you crying because you're happy, Mommy?" "I'm crying because I'm very impressed that you had a wonderful idea and you executed it all by yourself. I'm very proud of you and very happy that you shared this with me."
Two days later, he created a "Museum of Science and Industry" and when he called to Ben to show it to him, he also asked for a pair of scissors. Dex had taped a piece of paper across two of his wooden train bridges at the "museum entrance" and had a "ribbon cutting ceremony", snipping the piece of paper to open the museum. Honestly, I don't know where he gets this stuff!
