Most kids get building blocks...

Legos and building blocks are often toys of choice for young kids.  Houses and buildings and "who-knows-what-those-are"s get joyfully erected, and then later, they are even more gleefully destroyed.  Carina will likely play with these toys, too, but I have a feeling that her favorite building toy will be this:

Yep; your eyes do not deceive.  This is Daddy's molecular model building kit.  Instead of boring old houses and buildings, Carina will assemble acetonitrile and cyclohexane.  She will be an inventor and won't even realize it...for I have a feeling that most of the compounds she creates with this kit (until she can follow the directions, of course) will be brand new never-made-before molecules!

Now before you call CPS on us for endangering our 3 month old baby with a toy that could be the utter definition of a choking hazard, don't worry; Carina won't be playing with this tomorrow, next month, or even next year.  It will be a while.  I just happened to find this kit while unpacking last weekend and thought M and I would have some fun with it.

And have fun with it, he did...

I doubt Carina's first play time with this kit will yield β-D-glucose (yes, that is what M built above), but hey, any molecule...whether it is real or not, will make this Mama proud.