What To Do With Justin

People often ask me this:
"What do you do with Justin while you're 'working with' the girls?"
Good question.
Truth is, on days like today he attempts (without succeeding) to tell me that if Daddy were home Daddy would let him watch t.v. ALL day long. Not true - he called Daddy at work to ask him - Daddy laughed at him!
So what do you do with a very noisy, busy 4 year old while you're trying to teach double digit multiplication to one child and phonics to another?
Most days he does his coloring, plays with the math manipulatives, builds with legos, sets up the trains.
Other days he gets creative on his own.
I was deeply engrossed in a math question with Eden when Justin asked for a hanger. I absent mindedly walked to the closet, handed him a hanger. It didn't cross my mind to question the purpose of the hanger.
Oops.
I don't know where the idea came from - but he cleverly "McGuivered" the chairs and stools with some ropes and ribbons and created a "ZIP LINE". Didn't quite live up to his vision - but very ingenious.


Later I found this little creature hanging under the stool. I guess he knows that his sister is afraid of spiders!


It'll be awhile before we get into the reading, writing and 'rithmetic with Justin. But then again, I guess life is learning. Somedays his play may be better learning than the rest of us get.
Now that I think of it, maybe we should head to the library and get some "physics for preschoolers" books so we can figure out how to make that Zip Line work for real!