Basement fun.

Monkey is understandably obsessed with our basement these days.  We spend a lot of time down there as we clean up, reorganize and prepare to build an office for Duhdee’s newest business. 

The clean up portion was a ton of fun for Monkey because we had to pull out all of his old toys which he really loved.  He would play with his baby toys and you could see that he clearly remembered all of these old friends.  We found a lovely young family via craigslist and we gave them ALL of Monkey’s outgrown toys and baby gear, they were very excited.

The reorganization portion is still on-going and Monkey is even more thrilled.  First, Duhdee built me a seed starting area, I have room for 4 seed tray flats now which is MORE than enough to satisfy me, lol.   He has hung 4 flourescent lights (two over each shelf) and yesterday started the process of wiring them to an automated switch.  He’ll program the lights to turn on and off automatically.  Woot!

All of this building and wiring has meant that Duhdee has been using power tools.  Nothing makes Monkey happier than power tools.  We bought him a set for Christmas and they are very cool but his drill isn’t quite as cool as Duhdee’s drill.  Initally, we kept him from using Duhdee’s drill but eventually we realized that he could use it safely as long as there was no bit in it.   Monkey was thrilled with this development and happily spent many hours pretending to drill holes in the walls, in my seed stand and in the floor.

He’s been keeping a close eye on Duhdee though and he noticed that when Duhdee used his drill he added a “bit.”  It wasn’t long before Monkey was scouring the basement looking for “bits” (this is the cutest thing he says right now besides “honey,” of course.)  He’s very creative and found several potential “bits” and asked me to help him with them.  After putting him off for the entire afternoon he brought over an actual bit that we decided he could safely use.  It was a short, blunt bit that could be used for sockets.  Duhdee installed the bit and Monkey was again thrilled. 

A short time later, Monkey approached me with a bolt.  He was trying to get the bit into the bolt.  I took it from him and showed him that it didn’t fit and Monkey wandered off again.   I showed the bolt to Duhdee before I put it away because I was amazed that, out of all the choices, Monkey had picked a bolt with the right shape!  A minute later Monkey approached me again, this time with a socket.  And again it wasn’t just any socket but one out of hundreds that very nearly fit his bit.  Duhdee was so impressed that he stopped what he was doing and found the proper bit and socket combination for Monkey to play with.   

I am so impressed by his ability to match odd shapes and to judge sizes so accurately, we’re talking a 1/16th of an inch (or mayb 1/32th of an inch) off on the socket and he had literally hundreds to chose from.  It wasn’t even the most convenient socket to reach, he had to reach over several rows to get the one he picked.  He just blows my mind sometimes.

Besides the wiring we’ve started painting the basement with a paint designed to seal out moisture.  Duhdee picked one that is water based so Monkey was able to help us paint.  He seemed to enjoy it at first but ultimately decided that using power tools is more fun.  I think if Duhdee had given him the roller he might have stuck with painting longer.  Though anything that we do down there paint-wise will be an improvement, we weren’t quite brave enough to hand over a full loaded paint roller.  We still have miles of basement left (we’re painting each area as we finish cleaning it up and just before Duhdee re-wires it) so maybe he’ll get his hands on a roller before we finish.

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7 thoughts on “Basement fun.

  • March 9, 2009 at 9:21 pm
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    What a good helper! Matt’s has always been a lot like that, and Kyle, well, no.

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  • March 9, 2009 at 10:05 pm
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    that’s awesome that monkey helps out:-) i love you monkey and umma and duhdee

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  • March 10, 2009 at 6:04 am
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    Wow how amazing he is! What a magical bonding time for all of you, and I bet he will be so proud of the basement when its finished, because he has helped so much. You will have to do a Metamorphis Monday post to show us when you are done.

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  • March 10, 2009 at 8:19 am
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    Yeah This basement renovation is amazing and especially with Grampy’s approval. It will be nice to see when it is done and all set up.

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  • March 10, 2009 at 9:53 am
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    Everytime he shows an interest in our projects we’re encouraging it. It slows us down a bit but these are potentially interests and skills he can use later in life. After the office is built Duhdee is going to build a workbench for himself and add an adjustable workbench for Monkey as well so they can work on projects together. Grammy, be prepared for some birdhouses in your future, lol.

    We should have taken photos before we started but we’ll get some “before” pictures now. You will all just have to imagine the hundreds of baby and toddler toys stacked to the ceiling since they’re now cluttering someone else’s house, lol.

    Grammy, I think we’ve lost Grampy a bit, lol. He gets the gist of what we are doing but he tosses his hands in the air when we start talking specifics. As long as the remainder of our stored items don’t end up in his way he’s just going with the flow I think.

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  • March 11, 2009 at 7:21 am
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    Grampy (here in NH) wants to know why Duhdee needs an office space in the cellar. Does Duhdee have a new company besides?

    We will be ready for birdhouses or anything else the “Carpenters” will create.

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  • March 11, 2009 at 7:58 am
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    Same business but he needs space away from Monkey and I to do his conference calls and also to provide customer service, it’s just too noisy for him when we’re home and running around. *AND* it will give us our dining room back!

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