Construction and deconstruction

In case there was any doubt that Steve's genetics run strong in our children, we now have proof positive - the "I must take everything apart and tinker" gene has emerged in Sam! Over the years, Steve has kept many a piece of worthless and/or broken electronic equipment because he knew that one day the boys would take find endless raptures in taking it apart, and that day has now arrived for Sam.

It all started a few weeks ago when Steve gave Sam an old DVD player (that had been sitting in our garage for years, mind you, waiting for this moment) and the rest is history. Sam tore through a couple of DVD players, a Dustbuster, and a blender in that weekend alone, always careful to keep the "useful bits" set aside for future contraptions that they will no doubt make. I figure that as long as said "useful bits" take up less room than the junk they came from, I'm cool with it.

Then it was decided that Sam's screwdriver set was simply not up to the art of disassembly, so Buddy, Daddy, and Sam took the epic tri-generational journey to the hardware store to pick up a new handle and seemingly hundreds of minutely different bits. Sam's wildest fantasies had been realized.

At our yard sale last Saturday, he ruthlessly bargained us down for more semi-functional electronic "treasures" including an FM Walkman, the Thomases' old computer, and a boom box with tape deck. All were throughly destroyed within seconds. The child is ruthless.

And now they have succeeded in their first project that actually involves putting things together rather than taking them apart - the mini-cam RC car. And, lest you think me a total cynic, I have to admit that this is pretty frigging cool. Steve purchased a small wireless camera a few weeks ago on the blessed internet and earlier this week they successfully mounted it to the top of the RC Herbie that Sam got for his birthday a few years ago. The receiver plugs into the mini DVD player that we have for car and plane trips and voila! an RC car with a first person view. (If you look closely at the photo, you can see me taking the photo on the DVD player's screen)

All in all, I have to admit that it's a pretty cool hobby, although it has had some scary moments - the other day Sam intimated that we didn't really need two digital cameras... but don't worry, I killed that line of thought before it was even out of his mouth. At least he's asking before dismantling (for now)!