Well I think they're geniuses

When Ruth Anne was maybe nine months old, I noticed that she was fascinated by doors and drawers. Around that time, I saw a Montessori website with an "object permanence" box. The child drops a ball in a hole on top of the box and then opens the drawer to retrieve the ball. Cognitively, this work is related to peek-a-boo - it tests whether the child (or cat say) can remember that things are there once he or she can no longer see them. When Ruth Anne was a baby and we were moving and all, I decided not to pay $40 or whatever for one toy. We played the object permanence game with inverted yogurt containers and a cat toy. This was good but for Neil I decided I really did want a beautiful box that he could use throughout this range of development without having to put it in a suitcase. Joe thought it was something his dad could make and Gran-Darrell did. The beautiful box, lovingly smoothed and rounded, came for Christmas, along with a nuts and bolts job for Ruth Anne to develop her sense of comparative sizes and eye-hand coordination. Ruth Anne started in on her job right away but Christmas was before Neil's recent discovery of volition. I put the box away for later...

Luckily, yesterday, I noticed that Neil thought peek-a-boo with the diaper laundry was kind of funny. I pulled out the box thinking he'd get a kick out of watching the ball drop. Well... I didn't even get the drawer open because I was trying to prop Neil up in a sit for a better view and the brother reached over fiddled the knob and opened the drawer. He probably wanted to put it in his mouth but it is so fun to watch him open the drawer, as you can see from the pictures today, the toughest part of the whole operation is not tipping over.

Aunt Hillary and Uncle Tony also sent educational gifts, a multilingual octopus for Neil and a cutting job for Ruth Anne. The cutting job has a wooden knife to separate pieces of wooden fruits and vegetables that are velcroed together. When we first opened it, I was a little skeptical. I didn't want her inured to the danger of knives. This is why Montessori uses all kinds of real glass and porcelain objects, so children learn about consequences, right? Well, it's actually really nice. the flat top of the wooden "steel" doesn't cut like the actual edge, plus we schooled her on the handle and can correct her when she doesn't keep her fingers on the side. If we're reasonably vigilant about this, I think she might actually form good habits without any risk of bloody consequences. And, of course, it's a great addition to her toy kitchen with the stove that doesn't emit heat. She loves, loves to cook.