An Early Birthday Present for Henry

Henry turns three on Monday, (yes, really) and I thought long and hard about what present would be best for my little man. At Nick's preschool fair, I saw how engaged the boys were with the water table. Henry, especially, loved every second of pouring and splashing. So I bought the coolest, most deluxe water table I could find. 

It sat in our basement all week, but yesterday I told Greg I wanted to give it to Henry early. I figured they would be enthralled with it all weekend, and then it'd be easier for me to write and grade while they played. You see, I'm working under deadline on a writing job, plus I have fourteen APA style graduate papers to grade, all due after this weekend. Plus, everybody loves it when a birthday present comes early!

So. . . the box said, (and I quote) "Minimal adult assembly required." I figured this would be no problem, at least until Greg opened up the box and told us that there were well over 40 parts and 60 steps, requiring at least two different screwdrivers. Minimal? Yeah, right. 

We all spent the next hour on the kitchen floor, playing with the little plastic people that came with the set and watching Greg put the pieces together. Oh, and playing with the box it came in, of course. 

When the boys woke up this morning, (at 5:15 a.m., I might add) they immediately wanted to go outside to play with the water table. Greg made them go back to bed, but they couldn't sleep. After breakfast, around 7, I let Henry explore his new present. As predicted, he loved it!

They've been playing happily for over an hour, now.  :)

I think Nick was just as excited as Henry about this new toy. 

Henry has been thanking me profusely all morning, as in, "Thank you mommy for my new water table. I love it!" 

So, for this morning at least, this is what my view looks like as I'm grading and writing. Oh, and yes, I do realize that I'm procrastinating by writing a blog post while I'm supposed to be doing official "work." I'm most prolific as a blogger when I'm putting off other work.  :) 

I love summer days when I can spend my mornings out on the patio, feeling the breeze and drinking coffee as I type. In Illinois, there aren't too many of these days before it starts getting too humid to relax outside, so I want to enjoy every second of it as long as I can.