Building

Nils has loved trains for about two and a half years now. Two and a half years! He cannot remember a time he didn't love them.

He loves building things, too. He's been a little builder for a long time now, and he will often slip away to his bedroom, close the door, and build cities and railroads on his rug. (Woe to us all the day Liv learns to open a door.)

Art is a much more recent development here, but he has been "all in" from the day he decided to give the crayons a try. He sits for long periods of time in deep concentration, and I have loved watching his creations go from scribbles to abstract designs to actual things. He drew his first train this weekend. Wheels, cars, smoke, windows... very cool.

Trains, building, drawing; these things often go together. He sweet talked me into giving him a big sheet of wrapping paper today, and when I checked in on him, he had done this:

 Can you see all the tracks colored on the sheet? There's a big, circular train track spinner thing up near the fox, and it leads to the extra tracks he drew and cut out of little pieces of paper. Nothing dramatic, but all by himself! Straight from his imagination!

Gol, I just love this sort of thing. I love, love, LOVE the fact that he goes off by himself and can't stop himself from creating something, that he saw wrapping paper and thought "I can make something awesome out of this!" Aren't three year olds the coolest? I sat next to him this evening, watched him draw more tracks and build more walls along the outer perimeter, and I started thinking about his future. What are the odds that he will stay this way? Will he keep "building", testing, doing, and thinking, or will he lose the spark and stop?

I have some say in this I guess, but I don't think it's a very big one. Encouragement? Example? Limits? A bit of tough love on occasion? Will I be able to figure out the best way to reach him? What other complicated things - things I cannot even imagine right now - will get in the way? 

I sat there next to him tonight, saw how his little footie fire truck pajamas were already getting too small for him, and thought "Sh**********t. This is why they say parenting is so hard, isn't it.