Luke loves puzzles. I'm sure it is something that we have unintentionally brainwashed him to love, because Greg and I also love puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, crytoquotes, word jumbles, sudoku--you name it, we have been addicted to it at some point. Thus, Luke is amassing a little collection of Melissa and Doug puzzles, along with a set of four 12-piece jigsaw puzzles that Gaga gave him (who am I kidding? The other puzzles were from Gaga, too:)). But we are the ones who work them daily with him!
One of the beauties of Gaga is that she gives Luke things way above his developmental level...and then he learns things way above his developmental level. It's amazing how that happens. I'm learning a valuable lesson: Parents, have high expectations for your children! (Not in a pressure-cooker way, of course. But be open to the possibility that they are smarter than you think they are.)
Case in point: awhile back, Gaga bought Luke the Melissa and Doug State puzzle. I think I stared blankly at her when she handed it to him. Um, is this for me and Greg? (Just kidding. But maybe for Luke when he is about five!) Fast forward to now..and Luke knows his states. We've had a babysitter actually call us while we were out to dinner, exclaiming, "Did you know Luke knows all his states and where they go? I told him, 'Luke, even
I don't know where Missouri is!" Now, her statement was not totally accurate. We have unfortunately lost a very small piece that has Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island on it, so those aren't on Luke's radar. Plus, I just realized the other day that what we've been calling Maryland is actually Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Oops. (See, I'm really the one who needs this puzzle!)
Luke is also a big fan of his magnetic fishing puzzle, mainly b/c after he "catches" his fish out of his puzzle, he then "grills them up" and eats them! It's quite amusing to watch. He fishes them out, declares that it's time to "fire up the grill," arranges the fish on his wooden chair (the grill), gives multiple warnings not to touch it b/c "it's
very hot," and then serves them up to everyone in the room. Yummy. Luckily, we let them swim away back in the ocean after we are done--phew, you would have thought we'd have killed them with all that grilling and eating. (He also "fishes" goldfish out of his tomato soup at lunch, and will pretend they are various characters from Finding Nemo before eating them. He's definitely not sentimental!)
The grilling fixation is a result of "helping" Daddy grill. Luke has evidently decided that grilling is something manly and worthy of his time. Sometimes, though, he goes a little overboard. The other day, I looked at his state puzzle and saw that Louisiana was completely chewed up! It was
covered with teeth marks. Confused, I called Luke over and asked what had happened to Louisiana. He matter-of-factly replied, "It was a steak." "It was a steak?" "Yep," he went on nonchalantly, "I grilled me some burgers, too." I looked around to find any gnawed-on "burgers," but luckily, it seems he left that part to the imagination!
In other news, Anna is still our little fish. She
loved swimming in the pool this summer, and no matter how chilly the water was, she never complained or seemed bothered in the least. The rest of us, ironically, were the big babies, crying about how chilly it was when you first got in:). Her adoration of all things liquid has carried over to bath time. If I put her in while the water is running, she'll immediately go over and stick her hands--and sometimes her whole face!--in it. When Luke is in, he loves to splash her and pour water on her, and she laughs hysterically. When we wash her hair, we just dump the water right on top of her head with no regard for her eyes or face. Does she care? Not at all--in fact, sometimes she laughs and carries on like it's the best thing ever. If she's in a more subdued mood, she'll just sit calmly.
Something tells me we aren't going to be able to get her out of the pool or the ocean in the summers!
