Their Little Developing Minds!

I frequently write about the boys physical development and reaching different physical milestones. Over the past week, the boys mental development has really started to take off!

My new favorite activity is sitting outside of their play area and just watching them. They are starting to play with toys as intended. They are rolling their trucks and trains like trucks and trains. They are stacking things. The boys also have the standard toy with the large to small rings that slide over the cone. The other day, Jared was trying over and over to put the ring on the cone. He would knock the cone over and stand it back up to try it again. I really enjoyed watching his persistence and watching the little wheels turning as he was figuring this out.

When we were in Texas, Grandma Peggy gave the boys a turtle (THANK YOU GRANDMA) that has a removable shell that has four openings that are different shapes. It has four different blocks that fit into the different shapes on the shell. The boys have learned that the blocks fit into these holes and they try over and over to put the blocks into the shell. They have actually succeeded on a a few occasions. Because the shell can be removed, if we are not holding the shell on the turtle, the boys actually enjoy dropping things directly into the base of the turtle. This is also fun to watch because they place anything and everything in there and are quite proud!

While we were on our trip, Ms. Heather gave the boys a ball popper toy that is powered by air to pop up the balls (THANK YOU MS. HEATHER). All of the boys love this toy but Jared, by far, enjoys learning and understanding this mysterious piece of machinery! He has learned that the balls are spit out of the top and the red knob is the key to making the balls pop. I have some video of the boys playing with the ball popper. In the video, you will see Jared turn the popper on and once all the balls are gone, watch how he responds with insistence that the red knob should give more balls. He then realizes he needs to get one of the balls on the floor. Watch what he does with the ball and the red knob. A couple other things to watch for are how the boys try to put anything into the top - mittens or the blocks from the turtle toy. Also, watch Wesley try to go directly to the balls in the base. I really enjoy watching them figure things out. Well, enough of my explanation, here is the video. And please ignore the voice of the obsessive mother giving frequent direction...

Now that the boys have learned the joy of putting things in the ball popper and putting things into the turtle, they are starting to put things in many different places. I have previously posted that the boys are putting their toys behind the barriers to their play area. We have a play yard fence in front of our fireplace. This is where we store the ball popper when we are not playing with it. At the beginning of the day, this area looks like this....

Throughout the day, the boys "pick-up" their toys (if this was really what they were doing, I would be a happy woman). I was able to catch a little on video the other day. Oh and don't worry, the fence is secured by weights so it will not fall over on them. Enjoy....

By the end of this day, the same area in front of the fireplace looked like this with over 20 different toy parts back there...

There are also two other areas where they are "storing" their toys as well.

It is such a joy to watch them blossom into little boys with great little minds! I enjoy their spirit and determination to figure things out on their own. Most of these little discoveries happen when they are playing independently. I am confident there are three little geniuses developing here!

Gotta run, a Mensa representative is already at the door...

Take care,