Pregnant lady

Ruth's correspondence school teacher sent her this puzzle with other things on babies.

Magic World Builder

Ruth has been playing computer games for a bit after lunch this week while I have a nap. We have a couple of games that are fully loaded onto the computer (the disk is not needed to play) and so she can get any of those started and change as she likes. Today when I came up she had been playing around on the "101 Kid's Brainy games" and was in the 8-12 year old section. She found this "Magic World Builder" and got to follow the blueprint to complete this playground (as it gets harder you have to add more pieces and start turning the pieces around to fit properly). What makes this extra tricky is the fact that it's 3D and you can move up and down and around to see all the sides of your building. She has quickly learned some of the different things she can do with the mouse (like zooming in and out) and I think she is going to have loads of fun on this.

Puzzles - new and sisters

Yesterday Ruth got started on this puzzle. I just loved the way she picked up a piece and then had a look at the picture to find where it went.

I then had to help Rachel with something upstairs and she called and said "Mum - come and look at the pieces I have put in". She was so pleased to show me that all 200 and something were done.

Today she pulled out Rachel's Fairytale book which as 7 48 piece puzzles in it. The have quite subtle colour changes and areas of similar colour (like the sky on the cover) but she found them much easier to do today then the last time she did them and she flew through all 7 in one day - almost 350 pieces. When will she stop? :-)

2 days and 3 new puzzles

On Sunday we picked up some new puzzles and Ruth was so excited to see this one. She immediately said it was like the "I spy" book her correspondence teacher had sent her. 100 piece done.

Another 100 pieces. I was not sure if she would recognise the characters (I don't remember her watching Shrek at all) but she immediately told Rachel about the Alice band that someone had that had Shrek ears. I must have a look if the movie is in the toy library.

200 piece finished up today. She enjoyed looking for the different things in each room and talking about the birthday party that they were having.
So 400 pieces done in just 2 days. At least you know I was not forcing her to build that dog puzzle every day. She really is a little puzzle monster. :-)

Writing practice

Rachel has started learning to write in cursive and so I found a website where you can create your own writing practice pages. I decided this would be nice for Ruth to do. She often wants to write her name on her own - so this is good practice (without me having to do dots for her the whole time). And she works so nicely too. Good job Ruth.
Ruth really enjoys Rachel's 96 pieces Egyptian puzzle book. She had no problem building this one even with all that shiny gold.

And she does not get tired of her old puzzles either. I love how she just decides which one (or two or three) she wants to build in the day. I also love how Hannah wanted to copy her big sister. :-)

1,500 done and other stuff

Ruth completed her 1,500 piece puzzle today.
This is a video of the progress over the last 25 days. I took a photo almost every day. She did about 60 pieces a day. She only had about 30 to do today - so it did not take her long to get some more puzzles out.
A picture of the finished puzzle. I look forward to getting it framed for her room.

And just so you know she does not just build puzzles - here she is with Rachel "blowing dye".
She struggled to blow on her own so I ended up holding the end of the straw and moving it around for her. You can see the effort it took. I thought afterwards that I should have cut a shorter piece of straw for her to use. We will have to try it again another day.
She really enjoyed seeing how the colours mixed.
Here she is on a 100 pieces. 30 pieces obviously is just not enough for one day.

And before Ballet she quickly got started on the round 100 piece. So much for thinking we would have a break from puzzles with the dog one finished. She ended up building at least 230 pieces today.

Mixing dye

Ruth enjoyed her first art project with the dye that she got in the last correspondence school posting. The instruction sheet had not been included, so once the teacher had sent that to us she was so excited about getting started. She had to exercise a lot of patience as I had no idea of what to do with it until the info sheet arrived.

Down to just one tray of pieces left on her puzzle. She gets so excited when she gets to finish a dog. But she can't just sit and finish them one at a time because as she looks through the tray for a specific piece she says "oh - I know where this one goes" and then goes back to looking for the other (which she normally manages to find).

Puzzles still going

Tuesday, 10th. I just love how she sits with the tray that is so full of pieces and finds one that she wants to put in.

She enjoyed building this 200 piece from the library today. Rachel had built it as soon as it arrived (no surprise with it having a horse).
In two days she has added so much. Down to just the three trays already. Although the brown and black tray is at least two layers of pieces.

Another week of puzzles

Ruth was thrilled with the box of puzzles I brought home on Tuesday night.
The first one she tackled was this round 100 piece. Her first round puzzle.

She loved the special shaped pieces (at the bottom of the tray).

60 piece Winnie the Pooh.

100 piece Barbie.

100 piece fairy.
And even though she has gotten those all done she is still working on her dog puzzle. This is an update on what she has gotten done over the last week.

I love how sometimes she will just look through the tray with all the "middle" pieces on (they don't have any white line that separates the dogs - and there are loads of them) and will pick one up and say "I know where this one goes" and puts it right in it's spot.

A week of puzzles

Ruth amazed me on Sunday when she started on the 221 piece I found in our library. Eventually she had to move to the glass door so that she could actually see the slight differences in the colours.











But up till then she just flew through it. She would spot a piece that had the tiniest bit of an animal on it and say "oh - this goes here".

It's just incredible to watch her.

Well done Ruth. Your biggest puzzle yet.

Then through the week she got started on Rachel's Egyptian 96 piece puzzle book. She had built this one before but struggled a little with building the puzzle in the book - over the smaller picture. So she enjoyed building it again on a board next to the picture.

This Saturday - in a desire to give her something challenging to do (and something that lasts a little longer) I pulled out the 1,500 piece dog puzzle that Nana had given us years ago. We have never built it and I asked Ruth if she wanted to build it with me. She is very keen to get it done. We have said we will frame it when it is finished. Rachel and I help sort through the pieces and within no time she had the border coming together nicely. I am not sure if she will stick it out. It's huge. But it will be amazing if she can perhaps get it build within the next few months.

3 in one day

Ruth headed to our library again today in search of more puzzles and I showed her this 150 piece one of dinosaurs. She was keen to give it a try. I sat amazed as I watched her work her way through it. By 11:30 she was finished and wanted another one.

So she did a 100 piece of foxes which I thought was quite tricky with the subtle colours - but she got through that by 2pm and asked for Mickey mouse (another 100 piece one but easier with the detailed picture). She had built this one with me quite a while ago but this time around could do it completely on her own.

Well done Ruth. You really are a puzzle whizz.

Hard 100 piece

Ruth headed back to the library the other day in search of another puzzle. I showed her this one that we have but thought it might be a bit tricky with all those flowers. She managed wonderfully though. She did the frame on Wednesday, did a little more yesterday and then flew through the rest today.
And she is getting better at taking photos of her finished puzzles too. :-)

100 piece again

Yesterday I had helped Ruth by separating the side pieces from the middle ones. Something she can do on her own but gets board of. Today while I was busy with something she decided to build it again. With NO help from Mum. She decided that the sides did not need to be built first and got it built again really quickly.

Creations and another 100 piece

Ruth has been busy making these baskets for Mum and Dad. You are such a kind girl Ruth - always wanting to do things for other people.

She went hunting for a bigger puzzle today and decided to give this one a try. A 100 piece puzzle of Rachel's.

And she now asks to take a photo herself every time she gets finished. A little skew - but she got it all in first time. :-)

First 100 piece done

Yesterday Ruth got Rachel's fairy puzzle book out and got a 48 piece done really quickly. It's probably a bit more difficult than her 60 piece Winnie puzzles as the colours are more subtle.

So when we visited the toy library today I hunted out any bigger puzzles and found this 100 piece one. She diligently sat and worked on it until it was done.

And then wanted to take a photo of it - herself.

Good job Ruth.

60 in one sitting

Yesterday I asked Ruth what she would like for her birthday and she said "maybe a puzzle". I was surprised as she has not been building puzzles much lately. I asked her about it and later when Hannah had room time Ruth got out one of her Winnie the Pooh 60 piece puzzles. The last time she built them she would work on them a little at a time with breaks. Yesterday she just sat and got the whole thing done rather quickly. So perhaps she does need a new puzzle. Unfortunately the Toy Library does not have ones like this (they have mainly board ones for younger children). So perhaps we need to see what we can get for her.
She has two of these Winnie puzzles and got the second one done really quickly today.