Just in case you were wondering, this is called “rocketship”
Luke
Post 364: Mini-Copter accolades
Just a brief note that when I picked up Luke the other day from school, one of his best friends came running over to me and declared
“It is so cool that you are working with Luke on the Minivan conversion”
My heart sings!
Post 363: Super Charged Minivan Heaven
Ever since reading that you can change the startup screen on the Toyota minivan console I have been meaning to. I just love that kind of stuff.
Yesterday I was finally ready to do it and realized I didn’t know what I wanted my custom image to look like?, then I thought, hey why not photoshop up a minvan-copter? The kids will love it!
Of course the idea of adding some sort of aeronautical device to the minivan is almost as old as this blog, but for whatever reason, Luke has been talking about it a lot recently.
The original concept was wooden wings, but Luke soon confessed he felt they would be too cumbersome. The recent version is a helicopter prop, so I put both ideas together and came up with this:
I loaded into the car, I go get Luke from school, he sees it instantly and goes:
“What’s that?”
I explain it was something I did.
“That looks pretty good, Dad, good idea. If that is your finished plan then all I think I need to add is some polyurethane.”
Sounds great Luke.
A day later he comes up to me and states very matter of factually:
“I’m going to have to see the gas tank. I need to see if there is enough room for a super charger?”
Ok, Luke, sounds good.
“The super charger will allow the minivan to go 120,000 miles an hour” he says with raised eye brows.
“It will only take two minutes to get to Legoland!”
I do some quick math out loud and discover it will take closer to 2 seconds at that speed to get to Legoland and Luke is now REALLY impressed.
The other part of the equation is how much is NOT on his radar and I believe it is linked to access to media. My example is this. Luke loves Lego’s, Luke will stroll down the Lego aisle at Target and study the boxes and point out all kinds of detailed thoughts. Luke has never seen a Lego movie. So why is it that he never ONCE has asked about the Lego movie posters that a strewn about the world, on the side of buses only inches from his face sometimes, never says a word. If we had seen a Lego movie I believe it would be otherwise.
Meanwhile a super charged mini-copter is TOTALLY on his radar, big time!
Post 360: Santa Mail
Luke remembered that there is a “Santa’s mailbox” at mom’s work the other day and instantly dashed this off:
He has been dutifully asking for the Lego Cargo Train for three years, and very nicely explained to me and mom, that is has been that long and that at this point Santa HAS to comply.
I think he is right, and just want to mention that this is also the boy that will energetically and with complete intensity play air hockey on a little battery powered air hockey set by himself and keep score, and stay excited the whole game.
Now, the hard part, Lily has written this note:
Please advise.
Post 359: Nine years!
[After the equilibrium/dis-equilibrium post (358) I got a wonderful reply from Luke’s teacher with a few articles on the “Nine Year Crisis”]
Luke’s amazing teacher sent me links to two articles about the nine-year crisis that capture what is going on in Luke’s world. (I know Luke is not nine, but that is part of the wonderful world of child development, NOTHING is set in stone). Once again it is empowering to know we are not alone on this:
Other than the profound nature of what this all means for my dear boy, there is a piece that particularly caught my eye about the celestial nature of this crisis period.
The position of the stars at birth, some say, holds the destiny of the human being. It takes eighteen years, seven months and nine days for the stars to circle back into that exact position. This moment of re-positioning is called a Lunar Node. Often at these moments, every eighteen years and seven months, people tend to change their lives. It is as if the stars in their original position call to the human being and remind them of their true destiny, their true course in life. We re-adjust. The Institute of Noetic Sciences in a 25 year research project on transformative experiences noticed in the research that moments of transformation—Epiphanies—tend to cluster around the ages of eighteen/nineteen; 36 to 38; 55 to 58. Nine-years-old is halfway round the celestial path and it is as if, the stars call the child to grow, to comprehend, and to remember the importance of his or her tasks on Earth.
(from Being Nine Years Old)