Two brags: a DS brag and a DH brag.

A seems-minor-but-shows-maturing brag: DS2.25 has mostly been indifferent to puzzles up until the last two weeks. I think he associated interlocking puzzles with frustration he felt around 1. At that time, stymied by his little baby hands, he would just point where the pieces went and have me interlock adjacent pieces.

Fast forward a year and he does puzzles by stealth! He decided to chance the frustration a few weeks ago, to his great pleasure, and has quickly gone from doing no puzzles to 24-48 piece puzzles. He's getting over a nasty cold, so I bought him a new wooden vehicles puzzle with a challenging, small set of graphics. We started it together, I ran to the bathroom momentarily and, when I returned, he had finished it. 3 minutes had elapsed total, tops. Parenting lesson for me: don't push if he doesn't love something immediately, just leave it in the environment and leave him to it on his own schedule.

DH brag:

My heart swells as I type this. DS ran to DH asking for something that neither of us understood. (This is a blue moon phenomenon for us, as DS' speech is so copious and clear.) DS patiently repeated himself 4 or 5 times, and DH responded with, "I'm so sorry to not understand, Buddy. I know you must feel frustrated with me for not keeping up. I would be frustrated, too. Thanks for being so patient with me; that's really generous and good. Can we try it again? I know if we work together we can find a way for me to understand what you want me to hear."

That parenting moment inspired me throughout the day. It's the epitome of everything I strive to teach as a parent-- persistence, love, empathy, open communication--and my DH exemplified it. Makes me so proud to be his wife. smile

What is to give light must endure burning.