December 17, 2007 Puzzles, Pots and Pans

You'd think the theme for the day was the letter 'p'.

Every afternoon, Sam takes a nap and the girls have to find quiet activities to occupy their time. They usually start by watching a little TV or a video - while I get a chance to get lunch cleaned up, etc. However, one of their favorite activities is doing puzzles. It is so interesting to watch how their minds work so differently. Gabrielle is really good at finding the correct piece for a particular spot. However, Allison is actually a little better about orienting the piece correctly in the puzzle. The two of them can do a 25-50 piece puzzle almost by themselves. I am usually there to help when they get stuck and sometimes prompt them for the next piece they should look for. I'm sure you can see the gate in this picture. We actually have a gate on both ends of our kitchen to keep out the pot bandit. (The is also a safety issue - as Sam like to pull out the oven drawer and stand inside it to open the oven door, "little monkey.") Anyway, today Sam was unusually fussy while I was trying to make dinner. Since I didn't have the oven on, on that particular day I decided to let him inside the gate to explore the cupboards as he loves to do. He will often dig out the spoons and start banging.