Toy Boat Toy Boat Toy Boat...

I was looking at the sidebar and I realized I have been letting a lot of things slip. For example, I haven't updated the Most Recent Project Section or the Current To Do list in a while, and those things have changed a lot over the months. The Currently Reading section also hasn't been updated, but that's because I can only get through one to three pages of it at a time. More on that in another post... 

Let's summarize one small project for now.  The next write-up will describe a larger one I should finish up this week. 

One morning a couple of weeks ago, the five-year-old was helping me clean the garage when he asked if we could build something together. I said "sure" and asked him what he had in mind.  He though for a bit and said "Maybe we could build a sailboat."

"Sounds good to me.  Do you have any plans or instructions we could use?"

"No... but we could think about it and just make some."

I smiled and handed him the Boogie Board I keep in the garage. "Ok. Draw what you think you want, and I will help you turn it into a plan we can follow."

As he worked, I asked leading questions that helped him arrive at answers I wanted him to have. For example, I asked him where he would play with it, in the tub or on the carpet. His answer ("On the carpet so the paint doesn't come off", btw) was irrelevant.  I didn't care where he was going to play with it - I just didn't want him thinking it was going to be so big he could ride the thing. Also, many of the "questions" limited the number of moving parts to zero and minimized the number of overall cuts so the project could be done in a couple hours. 

After some faux debates on the number, size, and location of the sails and whether or not there would be people on it the design was pretty much done. I wrote the dimensions in the right places and had him choose the wood stock we would need for the main parts.  

Since nearly all the steps involved using a power tool of some kind, he couldn't really "help" too much making the individual pieces. I let him use the cordless drill and the small hand sander sometimes, but the table saw, band saw, and drill press are off limits.  Even if he were tall enough to turn them on (well, he is for the table saw, of course) I keep the dangerous stuff unplugged... I even make sure we are both wearing safety glasses while we work. Call me paranoid. 

Anyhow, since I didn't want him to get bored waiting for parts to be fabricated so he could assemble everything I told him that he could be the "boss" and I could be the "builder" and he would have to tell me what to do. He liked that idea a lot, going as far as talking in the most outrageously fake voice I have ever heard. I'm not too sure how to describe it. It kind of sounded like a woman was mocking Bane's (from Dark Knight Rises) voice through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. No idea why. Through the build, he referred to me variously as "Mr. Helper", "Mr. Builder", and just plain ol' "worker" at the end. 

Meh... I've been called worse. 

To make the game a little more fun I intentionally made "mistakes" like cutting the sails to the wrong size, or saying things like "I finished making all the people, Mr. Boss" when I had one left to make.  He would say "No, Mr. Builder,one sail should be bigger than the other" or "No, worker, you still need to make one more person." After each of his corrections he would always say "You are still doing a good job, though. I am not trying to hurt your feelings. "

He's a magnanimous supervisor that way, what with all the open-faced compliment sandwiches and whatnot...

But, like all project managers since the invention of fire, he feature-creeped in a design change well beyond the very-last-minute point of the project.  After I had rounded the hull on the bench sander he came up to me and said "I drew some holes on the boat. Not like holes like a shark bit the boat or something. These are holes the people could look out of". He showed me his drawing. 

"Oh, you mean portholes. You got it. Is three on a side good enough?"  He said "yes" and I got to work trying to mount a now-curved piece of wood on the drill press in a way that was stable enough where I wouldn't be risking slicing my fingers to ribbons with a walking 1/2 inch spade bit.  I got through it ok, but I asked him not to add anything else.  He agreed. 

The final pieces were cut and sanded and he put everything together with wood glue.  It was dry enough to play with after dinner that day and he has had many adventures with it since it was made. He hasn't painted it yet and I am not too sure that's gonna happen. Like his father, see, he has far too many other squirrels to chase.  But, if he does I will post the final product then.

He said next he wants to build a rocket with "a kitchen and everything".

"Uhhh... Ok. You got it,” I said.  “You're the boss."