Legos are Still Cool

I admit it. I love legos. Though I guess I don't feel the need to play with them like I did when I was a kid, I really enjoy building things - first by the instructions, then by imagination.

Maybe it is just because as a kid I didn't get that many sets and now I can, but a year ago, I ordered just about every space lego set I did not have from the 1977-1982 space lego sets. As I indicated before, those were the golden years.

But my madness did not end there. More recently, as my daughter is (slowly) approaching the age where she can really play with these in earnest (and my son can at least avoid trying to eat them - he's 14 months now), I have found myself ordering contemporary sets. I ordered sets for the medieval line and sets for the Star Wars (original IV-VI, not I-III - call it nostalgia, but I just don't get excited about stuff from the newer movies). Unfortunately, most of that stuff is no longer sold on www.lego.com, so unless I go order stuff like the space lego stuff (which is rather expensive used) I can only get so much. But oh, what I've gotten. Just yesterday, the crown jewel arrived. The Lego Death Star. I think that is the coolest of all of the Star Wars sets, though I do admit it would be nice to get the Millenium Falcon (to scale with the figures) - and I would, except that it costs $500. (The Death Star was $400, but with everything it comes with, well, I could rationalize that easier...) Ok, the AT-AT would be cool, too. And that is a bit cheaper than both. So now I have a closet full of Legos that I can't give to them yet, just sitting in the boxes. Something like 10 sets, mostly big ones. (Like the King's Castle Siege, the Death Star, the Medieval Village, the Tower Siege, The X-Wing, Vader's Tie Fighter, and a few miscellaneous smaller ones. Oh, and the Cargo Plane for the City set). One set I can give them soon is the Duplo King's Castle. That is for ages 3-6, so when my son is a little older, like maybe by the end of the year, I can give that to them. That one I got from diaper points. I almost had enough points to get a second one when they discontinued the castle. I was very unhappy. But at least I got some Lego coupons for diaper points - that was how I ended up with the cargo plane - that was before I decided to get lots of castle and Star Wars stuff.

My 3 year, 8 month old daughter loves legos. She goes into the drawers where my space legos are stored and pulls them out and plays with them. I did have the sets all built and carefully put away. Now there are pieces pulled off (and put on) all of them and it is a mess. I was going to put them all away in bags, to be put together at a later time with my daughter (and son), but I never got around to it. I had put all of my sets together to see that I had all the pieces for each and I put the "new" (used) space lego sets together to make sure they had all of their pieces. And then I just didn't want to tear them apart. Oh well.

I remember how much I enjoyed playing with legos as a child. Now I just don't feel the urge. I guess I'm old. I still love having them and at least putting them together. And I find that I really, really enjoy watching my daughter play with them. It makes me feel as happy or happier when I did it as a child - just watching her play. I guess we really do relive our childhood through our children.

I need to watch money now. Well, I always need to, but there is much reason to be nervous. Still, I don't regret having gotten these legos. I know both my children will enjoy them - and so will I. And I can at least justify the Death Star by noting that $400 is what I spend on child care every single week. (Between day care and babysitters). That's like 50 Lego Death Stars a year. Wow. I can't wait for my daughter to start school!