Waffle Blocks Are Serious Business

If you've ever met Teddy, you know that it's a fair statement to say that a gnat has a better attention span. (You know, the saying about the attention span of a gnat?) At least that's the case most of the time. It's not uncommon for him to transition from an activity or toy within seconds of playing with it, unless he's encouraged to stay with that particular task or toy. Occasionally, though, Teddy is particularly interested in something, and it holds his interest for a longer period of time.

This week Monday he didn't have his usual staff after school, so I was home with him instead. I helped him get a snack, which he remarkably ate at the table except for a bite, and then he took off into a different room. I heard quite a bit of noise, but I continued taking care of a few things before I checked on him.

There's a good chance that if Teddy is occupying himself contently that he's doing something he shouldn't ... like putting toilet paper in the toilet ... or himself in the toilet ... or destroying something. So I expected to see a mess when I walked into the other room. Instead, I found this:

He had pulled out the waffle blocks and was playing intently with them.

I quickly backed out of the room before Teddy noticed me because I didn't want to distract him. He continued playing with the blocks independently for probably 30 minutes. Even when I walked upstairs and back downstairs with laundry and other things, he looked at me and continued working with his blocks. That is extra remarkable because other people can easily distract him, even when he's working on a task.

When he came looking for me after all that time playing by himself, I joined him to keep him engaged. We played alongside each other for another 15 minutes before he moved onto our giant building blocks.

He was so focused and determined ... and occasionally frustrated. 

This level of focus is rare from Teddy, and it was wonderful to see. It was also one of the few times I've seen frustration with him not being able to do an activity. When he couldn't get pieces together the way he wanted, there were a few times he would smack the piece a few times before trying again. Despite the frustration, he kept trying and trying until he managed to get things the way he wanted.

It's also remarkable because initially all he could do was pull apart the waffle blocks. Then it was a success when he could connect a few waffle blocks laying flat on the floor. Now he can stack blocks vertically and connect multiple pieces in multiple dimensions together. It's so much progress ... all in a set of waffle blocks and one persistent little boy.