The America Puzzle

My boys are smart. Really, they are. I know every parent says that about his or her child, but I really mean it. They are 2 1/2 years old, and I am daily amazed at what their little sponge-like minds soak up. And I have proof.

I tweeted about it yesterday, but I'll post this video here, too, to prove their smarts. Last summer Raechel and I found a wooden puzzle of all of the states in the U.S.A. at a garage sale for $1. Rae suggested I hold off on giving it to the boys until Christmas, and I took her advice. Christmas morning this puzzle was displayed under the tree, to the delight and rapture of all.

Well. I just wonder what new vistas of learning might be taking place now if we hadn't held off. You see, J and B are both now able, after just a few days of constant play and interaction with this puzzle, to locate and name each and every state. All 50 of them, with the occasional mix-up between, say, Vermont and New Hampshire. They really have only shown such a rabid interest in this puzzle over the past 2 weeks or so; until then, they were distracted by their other new toys and would only put the "America Puzzle" together every so often, and always with our help.

Now B quite literally plays with it all day long. He wakes up and asks for his America Puzzle first thing after breakfast. He puts it together continuously, with the occasional aid of his brother and without the aid of his mother or father, until lunchtime and subsequent naptime. After his nap he again tackles the puzzle, only stopping when Dad walks in the door around 5 p.m. At that point I usually put the puzzle away (if I haven't already) to give his little brain some breathing room.

You see, B is a little, how shall I put this, obsessive. A place for everything and everything in its place and all that. He gets angry if his little sister, who is, after all, still a baby, takes any states from him, and he alwaysalwaysalways starts on the eastern seaboard. And he would play this puzzle all day long, only breaking for rest periods and snacks, if I allowed it.

Because of this constant play, he and his brother now quite literally know their states.

(Baby C is saying "What's that?" when she is holding out Oklahoma. She likes to do that with each and every state, until you want to go insane. But then you stop and say, "Oh, yeah, you're learning. Duh." And then you're happy to name them all 637 times in a row.)

The Professor is so impressed that he plans on finding puzzles of other continents and countries for their upcoming birthday. Clearly they're ready. And I'll tell you a secret: I'm a big believer in just letting little kids learn what they want through organic play, but sometimes I wonder if I'm doing enough. I start getting all nervous, like, What else can I be doing? What sort of expensive preschool curriculum should I be following? How can I adequately harness and cultivate this obvious love of learning?

And then I snap out of it and just laugh because hey, that's not me and that's not our family. Our boys are two and they love to learn and read and figure and spell and play. That's enough for now.