Puzzles and Pictures

One of Leah's new favorite activities is doing puzzles. We bought her a few for Christmas, two of which feature favorite movie characters from Toy Story and Cars. At first, when Dan & I tried to sit down and show her how to put together a puzzle, she grew very impatient and frustrated. She would pick up two random pieces and expect them to fit together; when they didn't, and we tried to explain how to try another one, she got mad. Eeek.

However, not one to be deterred by a new challenge, Leah again tried to wrap her brain around these puzzles. She began listening and paying attention when we shared how to match up a character's head with his body, or to look for a similar color, or to flip a piece around so it would lock into place.

Within the course of a week or so, she showed SO much improvement. And now, she loves the puzzles and is a pro at her two favorites. We tried a different puzzle a few nights ago - one that we hadn't touched too much since the holidays - and though she wasn't as quick at matching as she is with the character puzzles, her patience had improved and she was able to focus and work through it with me.

Another milestone Leah recently reached was drawing her first real picture! She was messing around with some markers and she showed me the paper and said, "It's a dolphin!" I looked and sure enough, I could see it. I was super impressed. After she moved on to another activity that day, I saved the picture, wrote the date and "Dolphin" above it, and hung it on the fridge. :)