The Puzzler's Philosophy

My mom came up for the long weekend to see us. It’s been several months since she was able to get here, so she was amazed at how much Troy has changed even since she saw him last. Not just his appearance, but his personality too. She said he is a lot less shy and more outgoing. And he wasted no time making her feel welcome, running to give her a hug the minute he walked into the door, yelling, “Gammy! It’s Gammy!”

My mom and I pulled out our usual puzzle, which we spread out on the table and work on sporadically during downtimes. We chose a Beauty and the Beast one, thinking that Troy would enjoy it. He loved it. He wanted to help, climbing up on the chair, and diving right in. Unfortunately, his idea of helping was pulling all of the pieces apart that we had put together, but that’s okay.

I decided to teach him my grand philosophy of puzzle-working. It’s a fool-proof method that has always succeeded in helping me be amazing at puzzles. He soaked it in with his usual thirst for knowledge. As he struggled to connect two pieces that obviously didn’t go together, I told him, “If it doesn’t work the first time, push harder!” And he did!

Troy has loved having his Gammy around. He wakes up every morning, asking, “Is Gammy gone? When will she come back?” It’s all we can do to hold him still long enough to change his diaper before he’s running off to find her. He’s going to be a wreck when he can’t just run to the guest room and pop his little head into her room to talk to her. And he has a lot to say!