Puzzle Mania

Jasper loves puzzles. ... LOVES them! He devours new ones. It's clear he figures out where he should start - what element of the puzzle he should do first and how to expand from there. Then when he's finished putting it together, he generally breaks it apart and says "let's do it again!"

I brought a new puzzle home on Friday that he wanted to try out right away. It has Elmo and Ernie - Elmo in pajamas & slippers, brushing his teeth; Ernie in a bubble bath with his rubber duckie. He can identify all the Ernie pieces and put them together. Once he does that, he sometimes starts singing

rubber duckie, you're the one.

you make bathtime so much fun.

rubber duckie i'm awfully fond of you.

Remember the giant fire truck puzzle we gave Jasper for Christmas?



He can put it together on his own now. We don't have to help him at all. You have to be patient. You can't rush him. Given time, he'll get it done. It's really fun to watch & listen to him put it together. He talks to himself as he does it, identifying the pieces "let's do the wheels" or "here is the bumper."


I bought him a truck puzzle that I left for him as a present when I went to Michigan. That was at the beginning of April, and he can put that together on his own now, too. He likes having us work on it with him, but he doesn't need us. Here are some shots of Jasper and Drew working on the puzzle.



Oh yeah, he likes to celebrate small achievements, too.

Given the opportunity, Benjamin likes to work on the puzzles, too.

Jasper can recognize patterns really well. I need to keep finding new puzzles to challenge him. This is one of the latest ones (an Easter gift):

With this puzzle we've been teaching him about where people live. He easily locates Kalamazoo, Michigan; Akron, Ohio; Minnesota and Texas. Last week I told him who lives in Minnesota (Shivelys), and that is where the cabin is - where we ride in Papa's boat. This Sunday Papa called during dinner. They talked about a variety of topics (eating eggs, golfing), and out of the blue Jasper said "Papa, are we going to go to the cabin?" Drew and I were floored by the mental association he made.

This afternoon we worked on this puzzle, and I asked him what he wanted to start on. He said "the boats." There are three boats off the Atlantic coast, and he can find those pieces and get started from there. It is fascinating to watch him work on this puzzle and try to see what he sees. The brain works in such amazing ways!