Puzzler

It's fascinating to see the development in our little children. Elijah has really begun moving from scribbling on paper to actually drawing pictures. Sure, we often have to ask him what he intended his creation to be, but its astonishing when you walk in one day and see an obvious Pirate Larry on the Doodle Pad. No wonder parents put their kids pictures on the refrigerator. It's not just to encourage them, but out of pride and amazement at what they can now accomplish.

Elijah has also begun indulging my passion for Legos. We started with me building houses and cars and then him playing with them for five minutes before breaking them. Now he's trying his own hand at building. At this point it may just be pulling the lego men apart and putting them back together, or creating a strange looking platform that flies (an airplane), or a giraffe with a really, really, really long neck, but he's beginning to create on his own. Not sure what sparked it all; he has been having almost daily craft time with his Mama where he scrapbooks along side her or they create a Clifford mask.

And something I never expected: puzzles. He's really enjoyed putting puzzles together lately. Not the wooden kid puzzles where you basically match the object, but real puzzles that actually require some problem solving. He enjoyed doing a few with me (or more like him watching me do it). Now he does some on his own. I'll come home to Stephanie cooking, Aubrey playing on the kitchen floor, and Elijah sitting at the dining room table putting a puzzle together. Elijah: the kids who doesn't stay still for more than thirty seconds. Who would have thought? And he's getting really good at it too. (Oh, and we've noticed Elijah bites his tongue when he's concentrating, just like me :-) Quite cute to see. Like father, like son.

But here's a puzzle of my own: On Saturday, Elijah was obstinate and defiant to nearly every request for cooperation with, "I don't want to!" with time-outs and spankings having no effect. Then today (Monday) he has been completely compliant, politely acquiescing to the call to come downstairs for bath time and nap time with a simple, "Okay." Someone please help explain this phenomenon to me. I'm having difficulty putting this one together.