November 2, 2000 - Thursday
It started a couple of weeks ago at the cabin and has turned into something of an obsession for Harry. One of Harry's favorite play activities is now piling fun links and wood blocks into and then out of the tin canister or a big old, empty oatmeal canister. It's very industrious of him and we can only hope that the trend continues for the next 18 years. He's definitely in mastering mode now, as he repeats the same things routine regularly.

In fact, this evening the 'putting' action was one of a little triad of activities that Harry rotated between from dinner until bedtime. Another equally spatial pursuit was his constant effort to place a long, thin rectangular block inside a uniquely shaped block with a base and two sides forming something of a "U" at each end. While the blocks fit together, one inside the other, the tolerance is rather tight and the difficulty seemed to frustrated our young hero when the two would not mesh as he knew they should, causing a shriek of discontent. He'd eventually get it, but would then immediately pushed the smaller piece out and try it again. Both reactions have hints of how his mother and I have dealt with frustrations in our own lives and offer intriguing glimpses at what Harry emerging personality might be, but only thin, early glimpses.

His third activity was playing on some oversized floor pillows we have in our living room. When he's tired Harry often stops whatever he's doing for a moment and lays his head on the floor for a few seconds. That's very cute and is similar to what he does with the pillows, but this wasn't fatigue. He was playing and giggled to prove it.


Comments, opinions?