Puzzling and painting

Zach has discovered puzzles. We started out with the basic wooden ones, and then moved on to jigsaw puzzles, and he quickly mastered an 11-piece puzzle. He is so proud, and he loves to do it all by himself and then holler for us to come and admire his masterpiece. We've recently started trying 24-piece puzzles, and it's fascinating to see the way he goes at these. He starts with the parts of the picture that he likes - ie Dora's face, and then moves on to Boots, then Diego, etc. And he does it the same every time. He's getting close to being able to complete the Dora one by himself, he just needs some coaching from time to time. Of course, he often gets frustrated and the pieces end up on the floor, but it's fun to watch him take on the new challenge.

Zach and I had a new experience the other day with our friends Anne and Maggie. We went to a place called Kiddywampus, so the kids could "do art". The concept is wonderful - basically it's a place where your kid can be free to create with all sorts of materials you probably don't have at home, and you only have to do minimal clean-up! Unfortunately, the theme this week was "glitter galore", which isn't the most appropriate medium for two year olds. But they had a great time painting, drawing on the chalkboard wall, doing some stamping, and shaking glitter everywhere. I'm still finding glitter at home in the oddest places...

But the best part of our day with Anne and Maggie was lunch, which isn't something you can say often when referring to a meal at a restaurant with two toddlers. But Zach and Maggie had a great time together, which is also something we can't say very often. As is normal at their age, the kids still mostly engage in "parallel play" when they are together - playing near each other but not really interacting directly. But while sitting across from each other at the table, done eating and bored while listening to their moms talk, Maggie and Zach started rolling cars back and forth to each other across the table. It escalated into a goofy game, and they were giggling like crazy. So very cute (and loud, but not even the teenagers sitting near us seemed to mind)!

Then we took them outside to expend some of that energy, and they chased each other back and forth on the sidewalk for quite a while, giggling hysterically the whole time. They even were talking to each other - deep thoughts like "Hey - that's dirt!" It was so wonderful to see - these kids have "known" each other since they were about 3 or 4 months old - and they're finally starting to actually enjoy each other's company. Perhaps they interacted more because it was just the two of them; we normally get together in a larger group. Who knows... but I'm looking forward to seeing more fun play in the future!