Marble Machine Photos

Here's what the marble machine looked like a few weeks ago.

The top of the machine, where the marbles (and sticks and dirt and grass and eventually water) are put into the causeway.














A was quite clear that he wanted a suspension bridge as a part of the marble machine.


























View of a marble shooting through the "suspension bridge."

The grotesque where the marbles came to rest at the end.  I can't tell you how many times an old cereal box has come in handy the last few months.

However, A seemed to want to fill the terminal with junk -- which made it hard to locate the marbles.

The whole layout, from start to finish. (Parental note: see how far away the end of the machine is from the beginning?)

BTW, we still haven't located the lost thirty or so marbles...

Box the Toddler Books...

We've made the discovery that the "What to Expect" series (sub-titled, "101 Ways Your Baby Could Die This Month") ends at the 35th month. A's metamorphosis from a toddler to a pre-schooler means the last few months have been child-rearing literature free.   While this has been somewhat freeing, I'm finding that it was nice to know "what to expect."

So... It's off to the library to read:

• Barnes, Bridget A. Common sense parenting of toddlers and preschoolers. Boys Town, Neb. : Boys Town Press, c2001.
• Goldstein, Robin. Everyday parenting : the first five year. New York, N.Y. : Penguin Books, 1990, c1987.
• LaRowe, Michelle R. Nanny to the rescue! : straight talk & super tips for parenting in the early years. Nashville, TN : W Pub. Group, c2005.
• Nelsen, Jane. Positive discipline for preschoolers : for their early years, raising children who are responsible, respectful, and resourceful. New York,N.Y. : Three Rivers Press, 2007.
• Parenting young children : Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) of children under six. Circle Pines, Minn. : AGS, c1997.
• Roehlkepartain, Jolene L., 1962-. Parenting preschoolers with a purpose : caring for your kids & yourself. Minneapolis : Search Institute, c2006.
• Schulman, Nancy. Practical wisdom for parents : demystifying the preschool years. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.
• Severe, Sal. How to behave so your preschooler will, too!. New York : Penguin books, 2002.

If anyone has a personal favorite, let us know!

Mushy Geeky Dad Moment

Last Thursday our neighbors made a kind of marble machine in their back yard. A liked it so much he wanted to visit their house. A lot.

So I poked around in our mounds of junk and found some old PVC piping. I cut up a Pepsi bottle for a funnel and bent some screen to make a "suspension bridge" (A was quite clear that he wanted a suspension bridge). A slightly-doctored cereal box became a grotesque where the marbles came to rest.

A loved it. I think it kept him busy for about an hour running back and forth dropping marbles into the top and running to the bottom to see them come out.

Then we listened to John C Adams's "Short Ride on a Fast Machine," (Well, OK, A was running back and forth between the two ends of the machine) and I guess I had a kind of a "When you want to build your star cruiser, son, I'll be here to help you, (and then I'll turn away so I won't be able to say anything when you're having fun flying too close to a gravity well)" Geeky Dreamer Dad Moment.

It's probably a good thing that we didn't listen to John William's "Superman Theme."

Now, if we can get the sticks out that A shoved into the PVC piping and figure out what happened to the twenty or so marbles last seen in A's possession. . . .