For Your Consideration

OK, I never thought I'd be the dad to take something so (perceptively) mundane and make something of it...but here goes.

Regular night (Presidents' Day Holiday, in case anyone's keeping score), Nic and I hanging in the "John Room". Nic asks whether he can have a cartoon. I say "No," in favor of ESPN-2's "Top 20 Single Season Individual Performances" and try desperately to make it fun for him. So we start with Nic's tub of blocks (from the "HEROS" company/brand) that I inherited from my brother's first-born. The tub has lots of long foreign words on the label, but way down below for those of us who like to read: "Made in Germany" (and we all know the good stuff the Germans make: like Westfalias and Sham-WOW!). And for years it pretty much just stood in one of those "visiting kids" bundles we all have for when our buddies visit us and subsequently, our/their kids need something to do.

Anyhoozle, it gets better. Nic takes the tub o' European blocks and proceeds to turn it over, so as to see what he's got to work with and goes to work (while I'm on my word, I chose to give him minimal guidance, such as "It's better if you build on top of things in a perpendicular fashion" and giving him hand motions -- you know, perpendicular/parallel, as he's only 4; and realizing that it's his first real "test" at home; and I eat this "que sera sera" stuff up every time it happens. OK, back to the story.) Nic says, "Daddy, I got something."
Enter "Take 1":

So, I figured we were all good with that, what he and I all being cool with each other (since, well, since he was born). And I swear, a minute later he says he's on his way of making a town out of the whole design experience. Now, I understand that the parent experience is pretty similar -- as in we all talk good stuff about our kids -- but look at this:

Notice Nic's "Leaning Tower of My Creativity" as shown by his hand gesture. For the record -- AND HERE'S WHERE THE STORY GETS INTERESTING -- was his "magic by design" by design...or something else? (i.e., the leaning tower held its place.)

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A Tribute
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