PLAYING!

I thought I'd mention another thing about what Gulliver does. I don't know if every baby does this, or just our Gulliver. I think it might be every baby but here goes.

Gulliver loves when there's one spot of something different. Like if I'm feeding him, and ONE drop of food spills onto his plate, he'll go after that one thing. It's very entertaining until he's spread it all over his tray and thus taken care of. This is the same for if there's one spot anywhere else. Like on the floor. He always finds the one spot of dirt, or the one nut that I've spilled.

Well, now combine this with his tendency to smash things with blocks. At this point in his life, that's what blocks are for. Smashing things. Now that he's a self feeder, all of a sudden I'm much more accountable for keeping my floors clean. So yesterday I was doing a thorough vacuuming and sweeping and mopping. I found a collection of blocks near a forgotten area of tile floor. And you know what I found? I found nuts and food debris encrusted on every single one of those blocks. Obviously he was chasing around misplaced food crumbs and obliterating them with his blocks!

Last week, Gulliver couldn't play on his own at all. It got to the point where I wondered if he had ever really played on his own before, or if it had just been a figment of my imagination. This week, he's back to his normal busy (and independent) self, and it's so much fun to watch. I feel like I'm able to see his imagination develop.

Here are some shots of Gulliver playing. In this first series, you can see a stick amongst his toys. This is a push-along duck that he loves. Of course he's not old enough to push it along yet, but he will grab it and then travel with it around the entire house. It's ball top is especially good for smashing things. 

Here Gulliver is inside one of his boxes. I have two toy boxes for Gulliver. In addition to organizing his toys, they have the added benefit of being places that he can crawl into and out of, much to my amusement. I've got to admit it. I think there are few things cuter than seeing a pair of legs sticking out the top of a box as Gulliver dives to the bottom to find a toy.