Puzzles

Let me start by saying, "I love puzzles."

(Disclaimer: Michal does not).

So to brainwash my child into liking puzzles (so that we can put them together together when she gets older) I decided to stock up on puzzles. I usually find them at local consignment sales and the puzzles I've purchased range in difficulty according to her skill level. 

The first time I brought out the puzzles, Lily sat there and quietly played by herself for over an hour. And a few times a week she still pulls them out and keeps herself busy for 30-45 minutes.

I never spend more than a dollar on each puzzle because they quickly become too easy for Lily. 

I never thought about pulling out the harder puzzles until Lily's Babcia sent over some Frozen puzzles. I opened them up for her and went to go feed Marco... and while feeding him - Lily was as quiet as could be... almost too quiet. So, I went to go see what she was up to and she had put together one of the puzzles completely on her own. I was completely blown away. I had no idea that she was this smart and could do this advanced of puzzles on her own. Granted... it was only 24 pieces - but she wasn't even 2.5 years old. 

Since then, I've brought puzzles to church every Sunday and Lily is so quiet and reverent and excited to put together her puzzles. Especially her "Jesus Puzzle" that Grammy sent her.

Since discovering her talent and liking for puzzles, I've tried to stretch her to see how hard of puzzles she can do. Within weeks she did a 48 piece puzzle, and just last week did a 60 piece puzzle. I've noticed that she can do puzzles of characters she easily recognizes, but when it's puzzles of animals, fish, trains, etc. she has a harder time fitting the pieces in the correct slots. I believe it's because she recognizes different characteristics of Elsa (her hair, her dress, her braid, etc.) whereas with trains, it's hard to recognize what fits together because it's not familiar or as intuitive to her.

I love this progression and how smart she is. I love how excited she gets every time she opens up a new puzzle and puts it together. I love how smart she is. 

And...

I can't wait until we put together our 100, 500, or 1000 piece puzzle together.