Stack and Sort

So much has happened so soon and keeping track of it is really rather impossible. But this particular milestone of stacking and sorting ability is one I won't miss. It came to gabe from 14.5 months.

From about 6 months, we got him this set of rings but he was really interested only in tipping all the rings out and gnawing on the yellow rod and the rattling ring.


This set of sorters was a Christmas gift and other than emptying the bucket, he wasn't interested in anything else. At about 11.5 months, when he could identify and say the word "star", he'll pick out that shape and drop it without further interest.


Gabe started stacking his set of 8 cups (not pictured) from 14.5 months, stacking the rings at 15 months, and somewhere in between these two weeks, went from being assisted in dropping the shapes into the bucket, to independently putting circle in, to independently putting all shapes in, though he must be directed which hole to put into.

He can also name all the 5 shapes in the above set, and the 12 that are found in the other shape sorter, though not all the words are well pronounced.

A few days ago, I found that his attention span towards his set of cups has decreased tremendously; he could sit for a half hour or more with them, allowing me to finish up my cooking without any interruption, a change I more than joyously welcomed. Then I discovered the reason. Previously, he'll require help to stack all the cups and rings in correct order, but when I walked out of the kitchen one day, I saw all the cups and rings nicely stacked, just the way I gave it to him.

To be honest, I'm a little taken aback. And that also means that we've got to search for something new and novel to get him back to the state of allowing mummy uninterrupted lunch preparation time.