Legos: A Mom's Guide

It's no secret we are major consumers of the Lego brand at our house, but the truth is I have a serious love/hate relationship with these little blocks. They promote so many wonderful skills such as creativity, fine-motor development, patterning practice, sorting skills (a key part of kindergarten math curriculum), thinking in three dimensions (a precursor to physics), problem solving, and following written instructions. But some days I wish Godtfred Christiansen would have kept his little idea to himself and they had never been created. Then I wouldn't end up with pointy bricks embedded in my bare feet while walking across the carpet, or having to perform acrobatics to reach the mini figure that was dropped between seats in the back of the car, or calming a hysterical child who can't find their favorite accessory, or spending precious nap time looking for said lost accessory. Not to mention that a house built out of Legos merits its own mortgage because the darn things can be so expensive. But, at the end of the day there are few things left in this world that captivate my children that don't plug in and light up and this is one of them, so for that reason alone I am willing to tolerate all the nuisances that come along with them and support my children's love for them. Over the years I have learned a few tricks that have made cohabitation with Legos more bearable. Since chances are if you have a child you already have or inevitably will be bringing Legos into your home I have decided to share some of my Lego lifesavers.

Smart Storage

We learned early on that Mason's favorite things to play with on a day-to-day basis are the mini figures and accessories. Well, riffling through and dumping out a huge storage bin of Legos every time he wanted to find a certain guy got old fast. So we started using a separate storage container for all the mini figures and accessories. Now when he only wants to play with the guys he gets out the smaller bin and it's easy to find the itty bitty things he is looking for. Makes for less frustration looking for pieces and less mess to clean up. We have recently taken it one step further and added a small tupperware container that Mason can put the pieces he is currently playing. That way he can take a break from playing and he doesn't have to leave them out where little siblings can get into them and break and loose his favorite things.

 Lego Mat

Our life was changed when Santa brought Mason a Lego mat for Christmas. Instead of 10 minutes of whining, arguing, and complaining while the kids scoop up handfuls of Legos and pick little pieces out of the carpet, now with one simple pull of a cord the job is done and we can move on with our day. We don't store our Legos in the mat, but just use it to gather them up and then dump them into the storage bin. It works great!!

Now let me be clear that Santa and his elves were the ones who made our Lego mat so I can only speculate as to how it was done...but if I were to make a Lego mat I would:
1. Get 1.25 yards of a solid colored fabric for the play side of the mat (having a solid color vs a pattern will make it easier to spot and pick out pieces you are looking for) and the same amount of any pattern or print you want for the outside of the bag.
2. Cut the biggest circle possible out of fabric.
I could not for the life of me figure out how to cut out a large circle without something to trace so thanks to my friend, Jessie, who showed up and taught me a simple way to do it. Fold fabric into quarters like you are making a paper snowflake. Tie a long string to a pencil so you can use it like a giant compass. Hold the string down to the folded corner (make sure it is the corner where all the pieces are connected) and stretch the string out until the pencil is at the edge of the fabric.

 Then while holding the string steady in the corner and keeping the string tight, draw an arc until you run off the fabric. Cut along line, unfold, and you have yourself a circle.
3. Pin two circles right side together and sew around leaving a small opening to flip it.
4. Flip so right sides are facing out. Iron down seam and then sew 1/4 inch around the edge and then again 1 inch in from edge.
5. Place grommets 9-10 inches apart. You could also do button holes and it would work just fine.
6.Put cord/rope through grommets and place a drawstring lock on the end.

 Instruction Book

I have realized there are two ways to build with Legos: following instructions to build sets or creative play making up your own designs. Thank goodness Scott loves to free play and build his own creations and has taught the kids how to do this because the only thing I am good for when it comes to building Legos is following instructions. That is why nothing bothers me more than finding an instruction manual for the set that we paid a ridiculous amount of money for get torn to pieces and missing pages so the next time we are building the set we have to guess what happened between steps 4 and 10. We have tried several different ways of storing the instructions, but they always seem to end up scattered and torn. So one day I finally figured out to organize them in a binder so they stay intact and organized until we need them.

Obviously I am in need of a larger binder.

You'll want to make sure to use high quality sheet protectors because the cheaper ones tear with the weight of the instructions. I put a piece of cardstock in each sheet protector to give it stability and then used my trusty label maker to label where different instructions go. I also keep their Lego Club Magazines in the back of the binder

 Lego Table

You know that train table you bought your train loving toddler that is now collecting dust as it takes up your whole toy room and your 6 year old has moved onto Legos? Well turn it into a Lego table. For a year or two we cleared off the trains and the kids loved playing Legos while kneeling around the "Lego Table" way more than playing on the floor. Ours has since been reclaimed by Miles as a train table, but it was a great use for it when no one was playing trains.

Free Lego Club Magazine

Did you know you can go online and sign up for a Free Lego club magazine subscription?

I signed Brynn and Mason up last fall and now a Lego Magazine is delivered for each one of them every other month or so. It's something free and easy that the kids are always excited about.

That's it for my advice. Do you have any pearls of wisdom to share? Please tell me if you do.

Stranger Danger

Ellie has decided there is a very small group of people she trusts. Myself, Scott, Mason, Brynn, Miles, Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Val, and after a few minutes to warm up Pooky and Papa. Other than that, if someone walks in the room they can expect a greeting like this.

If they continue talking to her or heaven forbid touch her then it might progress into this.

I can hardly blame her since 9/10 times when she meets someone other than our immediate family it is at the doctor and they end up poking and probing her. But she is such a happy and smiley baby for us it makes me sad that all the world ever sees is a sad and hysterical baby.
It kind of reminds me of another baby girl in our family.

9 month Ellie  / 6 month Brynn

Brynn had horrible stranger anxiety clear until she was 2 or 3, so who knows, maybe there is hope for Ellie to become a social butterfly.

On a side note, I have always been kind of sensitive when it comes to comparing Ellie's features to my other kids. When people ask who she looks like I simply reply with, "she has her own look" and I have never done the typical photo comparisons with my other babies for look alike contests. It wasn't until I pulled out their baby books and realized that Ellie was the exact same size at 9 months as Brynn was at 6 months (15 lbs 4 oz, 25.5 in) that I looked at these two pictures side by side and for the first time I could see it. When I compare the eyes, or nose, or mouth alone they don't seem to share many similarities, but when I step back and look at them side by side I see two sisters and it makes me happy.

A.P. Art

Last fall after soccer season ended I asked Mason to think about what activity he would like to participate in through the winter months. I promise I'm not one of those crazy moms who has their kids signed up for 20 different things at once, but I do like my kids to be involved in something to get them out of the house and give them something to look forward to. Mason came up with a great idea of taking an art class. After looking around, I was disappointed there weren't a whole lot of options that catered to a 6-year-old and would fit our budget. When my friend, Marie, starting looking into it for her son, Daniel, as well, we got to talking and decided that if people can do co-op preschools then we could easily do our own co-op art class. Pretty soon we recruited our friend Jessie to join the group with her boys. So our group of Cy (7), Mason (6), Daniel (6),  Brynn (4), Beckham (4), and Maggie (3) began to meet each week for art class. We would alternate who planned and hosted each class. Soon we started to do more than just art projects but taught about different artists and different art techniques and we jokingly began to refer to the class as A.P. Art and ourselves as the professors. I think the kids genuinely enjoyed the art we did, but at the end of the day it was a great excuse for us to get together with our friends from my mom's neighborhood. Marie and Jessie are such wonderful friends and I appreciate them going along with this silly idea because not only did it give my kids something to look forward to, it gave me a chance to be with my friends. During and after class we would talk a lot, cry a little, and laugh a ton. It really was a bright spot in my sometimes dreary weeks. Now that basketball, soccer, and baseball are starting up we decided it was time to end art class, but it was sure fun while it lasted.

Mason turned out to be our art class success story when he entered a picture into his school's reflections contest and won an honorable mention.  I appreciate the Reflections program because it is one of the few things left where not everyone is a winner. I think it is important for children to learn they aren't always the best and learn how to lose. Mason was a nervous wreck the night before the reflections assembly and it gave us a chance to talk to him about disappointment and how to deal with it. All he cared about was getting a ribbon. He was visibly nervous standing on the stage with the 107 students who entered the visual arts category and was so excited when they called out his name in the honorable mention group. Obviously we are proud of him.

"The Rainforest" by Mason

One of a Kind

March is Trisomy Awareness month and so I decided now is as good a time as any for me to finally tackle another of my informative posts. This one about Chromosomes and Trisomy. I have put off doing this post for several months because, well frankly, this genetics stuff is complicated and I'm not sure I entirely understand it. But here is my best shot at explaining about chromosomes and what makes Ellie unique. 

Chromosomes are found in the nucleus of all body cells and carry the genetic characteristics of each individual. Every person has 22 pairs of human chromosomes with an unequal 23rd pair  (XY for males, XX for females). 

People with a trisomy have an extra chromosome added to one of the normal pairs. The most common trisomy is Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome). The presence of an extra chromosome, such as in Trisomy 21, results in a characteristic pattern of features, birth defects, and medical problems that is recognized as a syndrome.  

Ellie's trisomy does not effect the entire 4th chromosome. Each chromosome has a short "p" arm and a longer "q" arm. Ellie has a duplication of the short p arm of chromosome 4, resulting in the diagnosis of Trisomy 4p. Remember that there are only somewhere around 100 documented cases of Trisomy 4p world wide (that number is a bit outdated and I think it is being diagnosed more and more frequently as genetic testing is becoming more widely available), but this next part is part of what truly makes Ellie one of a kind. Not all 4p duplications are the same. Some affected people have smaller, partial duplications for example only 4p16.3-4p16.1 is duplicated or 4p16.3-4p15.1 (see diagram below). Generally, the smaller the duplication the less severely affected the individual. Ellie is one of the few who has a complete duplication (4p16.3-4p11). This means it is likely that she will be more severely affected.

 

But that isn't where the uniqueness ends. Each person further varies in where their duplication is translocated (where it is attached). Some remain attached to chromosome 4, others are attached to a different chromosome. Some are inverted (the duplication is in a backwards sequence) and some involve deletions (a chromosome has missing material that the duplication has taken of the place of). In Ellie's case, her 4p duplication is translocated onto chromosome 15 without an inversion or any deletions. Below I have taken a typical female karotype and colored the duplicated 4p arm red and colored an additional red 4p arm to show where Ellie's duplication is located.

After comparing specifics of everyone's duplications within our 4p group I have yet to hear of any two children who have the same duplication. That is why there is so much variability in presentation between all of them. Each of these kiddos is literally one of a kind. Pretty amazing, if you ask me.  

So why? What caused this change in Ellie's chromosomes? Believe me, I have spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about this. Wondering what I did or didn't do during those 9 months when it was my sole responsibility to give Ellie everything she needed to grow and develop. Was it because I ate too many chicken strips and fries and not enough vegetables? Was it because I ate deli meat or because I stood in front of the microwave while it was going? Was it because I trained for and ran Ragnar when I was 13 weeks pregnant? Was it because I didn't know I was pregnant for several months and wasn't taking prenatal vitamins? Was it because I was working too much and sleeping too little? Was it because this was my fourth pregnancy and I just got a little careless and didn't worry about all the little things? It took me a while to let myself off the hook, but it really was not because of anything I or anyone else did. This was something that was built into who Ellie is from the very beginning and there is absolutely nothing I could have done to prevent it from happening.
In 75% of cases one of the parents has a balanced translocation, meaning that they have the same duplication but it is located on both chromosomes, so it balances each other out and doesn't cause any problems. The other 25% are referred to as de novo, meaning it is a random mutation. Scott and I have not been tested since it is a very expensive test and the results really only matter if we were planning on having more children, which we are not. The only other implication of one of us having a balanced translocation is that any of our three older children could also have a balanced translocation. We will let them each decide when they get older if they want to be tested. I am highly suspicious that Ellie's is de novo seeing as our history doesn't really fit the mold of families that have balanced translocations in them. Both Scott and I come from large families that have no history of abnormalities or problems. We never had a hard time getting pregnant, never had any miscarriages, and had three typical children before having Ellie. I could be wrong, but that is my gut instinct.

Well, there you have it. Was that clear as mud?

Greatest Snow on Earth

The view from the top of the back mountain at Sundance.

Growing up in Utah winter never bothered me. I had skiing, snowboarding, sledding, snow shoeing, bobsleding and skeleton (yes, I was on a team that trained for these in Park City my sophomore year in high school), and plenty of other winter activities and sports to keep me occupied. We do, after all, have the greatest snow on earth here in Utah. Or at least that's what the license plates say. Then I started having kids and winter quickly became a time I dreaded. A time when the walls of my house started to close in and feel like a prison cell. Sure we still had some great moments out in the snow, but those usually only lasted a short time until little fingers started getting cold (because why would a toddler ever keep their gloves on?) Well this year I am happy to report that I am once again a fan of winter. I guess my kids are finally getting old enough to enjoy all that Utah snow has to offer. We didn't have record breaking snowfall by any means, but any day that snow was on the ground the kids would throw on all their snow gear and head outside to play. Each trip outside was followed with mugs of hot chocolate and marshmallows around the kitchen table. At times it felt like snow gears was constantly drapped around the house drying, but I didn't mind at all because so many great memories were being made. 

Scott and I were even able to sneak away for a day and go skiing/snowboarding at Sundance to celebrate our birthdays. It always feels amazing to fly down the mountain and feel like a younger and livelier version of myself rather than the boring mother of four I really am. It was an amazing day.

Revisiting the spot where Scott proposed to me 9 1/2 years ago.

Scott and I weren't the only ones on the slopes this year. Mason got his first ski lesson from Grandpa Val this year. He had a blast and can't wait to get out again. We were hoping to get Brynn out for her first time as well, but at the rate the snow is melting around here, we might not get her out until next year.

All in all we had a pretty fun, snow filled, winter. But you still won't hear any of us complaining about the 60 degree spring temperatures we've started getting a taste of.

Mother Brynn

At 4 years old Brynn has already decided what she wants to be when she grows up...a grandma.  "But first I have to be a mom", she will explain to you. Brynn is already quite the little mother around our house. She loves to sit on the counter to help me cook, make her job list and check things off as she completes them, tell Scott how to give Ellie a bath and do her trach care when I'm at work (in actuality he knows exactly what he's doing, but Brynn seems sure that if she is not right there telling him that we don't take Ellie's g-tube out then he will have no idea what to do), and bosses around Mason and Miles. She really has become my right hand gal. I am dreading the fast approaching day she starts kindergarten and will be gone every day. I often sit back and watch Brynn in amazement. She has such a good heart and wants nothing more than to do what is right and make others happy. She is always singing and dancing around with a big smile on her face. She is pleasant to be around and easy to get along with, which has led to her having a lot of friends, boys and girls alike. I have no doubt she will be an excellent mom and grandma and that she will achieve anything else that she puts her mind to in this life. When I grow up...I want to be more like Brynn.