We had some lovely weather last week, which inspired us to get out and play. The playground was swamped by all of the snowmelt, especially near the swingset.

The Sunchild got the idea that we could drain the huge puddle if we dug some drainage ditches leading from it. This project was somewhat complicated by the railroad tie edging that was sunk into the perimeter of the playground. Luckily, we found a weak spot in the wall, and with much effort & concentration, were able to bring the water level down somewhat.

In other news, the Sunchild and his Papa went rollerskating with the Grandparents yesterday. They both had a great time, and I am looking forward to going with them one of these days.

We have been working intermittently on handwriting lately. I have been stressing the importance of working on the lower case alphabet, due to its predominance in printed text. Luckily, the Sunchild is interested. He received some cards for Valentine's day, and has been writing thank-you's in return. He gets his practice this way, yet I don't have to force the issue, as he recognizes the importance of expressing gratitude. Besides, it is a lot more fun to write something with content than it is to write boring lists of words or letters. His handwriting is improving dramatically, too, so I am confident that we are on the right path in this.

He has recently spent some of his Yuletide & birthday monies on new Bionicles from Ebay. We talked a lot about getting the most bang for your buck in this way. He spent about $20, and got 4 canisters of Bionicles, whereas they are about $9 apiece in the stores. He enjoyed the auction immensely, and wanted to keep on shopping, but I insisted that we wait a bit, since he has one more item on the way. We are keeping an eye out for a Viking ship in the meanwhile. The Sunchild would like to add: "When we do get back into buying things on Ebay, I would like to look for more Borrahk-Kal." I think he especially enjoys the fact that he can add to his collection, while not being limited to the one or two sets currently available in stores. This is opening his eyes a bit further to the nature of commerce in the modern world.