Legos were a big part of my childhood. I spent countless hours creating blocky new worlds. I have such a fond nostalgia for those cute little rectangles that my keys now dangle from a Lego Darth Vader keychain. So a couple of years ago when I discovered that they made jumbo Legos "For Kids 1 and Up" I quickly snapped up a big tub of interlocking goodness for Arden. And now that Alex has just turned one, the three of us have been playing with them together. However, Arden's now graduated to the miniature Legos of my youth. The 4-year-old sets may be small and contained, but the pieces are still tiny and if you're trying to create the scenes on the box, you really need to be a little older than four to construct them. More like 37. So where Arden used to build these incredible fortresses with her chunky Legos, I'm now forced to build everything for her. And we know how much I like playing for my kids instead of with them.
On Saturday afternoon I built two small Lego girls and a Lego horse for Arden and she asked if we could take them out to dinner with us. I told her that the Olive Garden had a "No Lego" policy. She said I was being silly so I said I didn't want her losing the little pieces. She responded in her typical matter-of-fact tone, "Just put them in a ziplock bag." Okay, she won that battle, but I was destined to win the upcoming Lego War, which of course meant I would also lose...
After some "endless salad" and "world famous" breadsticks we headed off to Trader Joe's to do some early Thanksgiving grocery shopping. On the ride over Arden asked if she could put the window down because she was hot. I knew it was some kind of ploy, but I went along with it anyway. So Trader Joe's was on the horizon and everything seemed fine until I heard this blood-curdling scream come from the back seat. I whipped my head around to see Arden in tears, "The Lego girl blew out the window!" I said, "It blew out the window?" "Yes!" "Were you holding it out the window?" Arden suddenly got quiet, "Yes." But then she blurted out, "You have to save her, she's gonna get runned over."
We pulled into the Trader Joe's parking lot and I said to Jen, "I'll take the baby up the street in the stroller and see if I can see anything." But with it already being dark outside I knew there wasn't a chance in hell I'd find anything. And even if I did, there was no way Lego Girl would be anywhere near in tact. But off Alex and I went while Jen and Arden toured the mart.
I started walking down the darkened sidewalks of Silverlake, passing where I heard "the scream" and I couldn't see anything. I couldn't even see the sidewalk itself it was so dark so I turned around and headed back towards Trader Joe's, but then a car started down the road and I got a glimpse of a tiny yellow rectangular pair of eyes staring up at me from the middle of the street. I quickly locked the wheels on the stroller and darted out into the road and picked them up. As I was running back to the sidewalk I saw another car coming towards me, lighting up the road to reveal another goddamned piece. But I was forced to run back to the sidewalk and wait for the car to pass. When it did I ran back out into the road, scooped it up and saw yet another piece further down the road. Alex laughed from the sidewalk as she saw me running back and forth into the road, collecting little colored bricks, one at a time.
About a half-hour later I returned to the car just as Jen and Arden were approaching with the groceries. Arden saw me and didn't say anything. I think Jen prepped her for the inevitable loss of her little square friend, but then I produced three-quarters of the Lego Girl. Before Arden could respond I added, "We can fill in the rest with some extra pieces at home." I expected Arden to give me some guff, but she just wrapped her arms around me and said, "Thanks, Daddy." Another successful day at the office.
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