"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life;
to put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived." ~Henry David Thoreau

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Workbench

My dad is an engineer.

His dad was a mechanic and could fix anything. My mom's dad was also an engineer. My brother Matt is a jack of all trades and has his own handy man business. Dad's sister was probably an engineer in a past life because she is great with figuring things out and building stuff. Cody's dad has a great garage full of tools and he loves to tinker. My other brother Philip is almost finished with his degree in engineering as well. We call Cody's brother Lance the "Renaissance Man". So it's no surprise that one of my kids inherited the tinkering and building gene.

Ethan is destined to be a scientist of sorts. He has shown signs of having a very analytical mind since he was a baby, and it has for sure carried over into his childhood years. He is constantly going through the recycling bin look for things to build something out of, or he is taking string and rubber bands and twist ties out of the kitchen drawer. A while back I started an "Ethan's Invention Supplies" box that I keep in his room. I put stuff in there as I am through with it...things he can use to make other things out of. He can take things apart and put them back together, often times better than they originally were.

It's an understatment to say that my dad is excited to have a grandchild follow in his footsteps. Ethan is so much like my dad in personality and spirit that it's uncanny. A few weeks ago Dad asked me if he could build Ethan a workbench, and I said of course! So he got busy designing it, and he built as much as he could in pieces so he could transport it in the same trailer that he would be hauling the Newlyweds belongings up in. When dad got into town last week, he and Ethan began to finish up putting it together. And when it was all done, Ethan was beyond excited. On Monday the two of them went on a shopping spree to the hardware store and Gov loaded him up with all the tools he needed to get started. They were like two kids in a candy store!

For the last several days Ethan has been down there tinkering away in our unfinished basement. Today he had his buddy Tommy over for a "building meeting". Thanks Dad, for supplying Ethan with hours and hours and hours of useful entertainment. The workbench is something that he will love for years to come!!









1 comment:

Melanie said...

How fun. We got Braden one for Christmas, and they play "Santa's elves". I love your "building stuff" box. I need one with Craft supplies!! I love the story of your dad putting a pinewood derby car together with so much careful planning. He got so mad seeing my dad putting it together in the parking lot with my brothers, and then Devin won the dang thing! Gotta laugh at that one:) You sure can tell that Ethan looks like he is in heaven! It will be fun to see what intrigues these little guys when they get to be our husband's ages!