Santa's Little Helpers

As I write this post, I'm sipping my coffee and rubbing my eyes trying to wake up after a busy night of assembly. Santa was SO generous this year - Colin is the proud owner of several super cool new toys. All of which came in compact boxes with the evil words, "assembly required." David and I shoved these off to the side for a few days trying to get Colin interested in the new books, tinker toys, games, etc. However, yesterday Colin began climbing on the corner boxes and knocking on them...translation..."Open my new toys, I know they're in there!!!" David and I nodded, it was going to be a long night. We had to become Santa's little elves equipped with power tools and PAGES and PAGES of directions.

My approach to assembly is to jump right in and get as much done as humanly possible in a given time frame. David's approach is quite different. He will read the instructions cover to cover, then organize his parts and tools in perfect little piles, and finally he will begin the project (which will take several hours but it will be flawless construction). Me, on the other hand, I will end up making a couple mistakes, but I'll overlook them in a "it's good enough for a 1 year old" kind of way. Actually, I have to brag bc this time I only made 2 mistakes that required disassembly and a scolding from David on how I need to read the directions more carefully.

Ultimately, David and I will finish projects in about the same amount of time (I'm faster but will back track a few times vs. David is slow and steady but never ends up with the legs on upside down at step 35.) I'm sure that toy companies keep the "assembly required" a dirty little industry secret just to put marriages to the test and make you understand your partner on a whole new level. What doesn't break a marriage only makes it stronger, right? Because the alternative is even worse, I could NEVER put these things together as a single parent. :)

Here are the fruits of our labor that will hopefully keep our toddler VERY busy.