The work of play

Vivi is beginning to play. Maybe she's been playing all along, but she is starting to do things that I recognize as play. She lays on her mat, stares intently at her dangling stuffed animals and then bats at the animals (usually the whale or the zebra). Her grunting makes me think this is hard work for her. When she hits one, she moves her arms and legs around excitedly and squeals (the happiest sound she knows how to make) so loudly that Lyle hears her in the garage with the door closed.

She started doing this yesterday (see video in yesterday's post) and could hit the animals only some of the time. But her efforts yesterday were clearly worthwhile. This morning, I put her down on her mat in a less than optimal position for hitting the whale (I thought maybe she'd like to hit something new - silly me). She was able to wriggle her way to a better angle and hit the whale with nearly every hit. She even made it spin around several times. She then moved on to batting at the plastic keys which don't move as much as the whale but make a different sound - a new game. Her happy squealing has also gotten considerably louder and more distinguished from her unhappy noises just since yesterday.

It's amazing to see how she learns every day.