Shapin' Up

Gommie and the kids spent most of the post-snow playtime on the floor of the living room playing with tanagrams, or little colored shapes that can be fitted together to make pictures. It's a toy she gave them a long time ago, after a visit to Sturbridge Village with it's own tanagram/quilt children's activity, but they hadn't ever gotten the hang of it at home. But we pulled it out this morning, after playing in the snow, while I got the soup on. First, Sis and Bud followed the pattern pictures included with the set, but they were soon making their own, much more complicated and abstract pictures, like flowers, snowflakes, and the like. Symmetry and pattern seemed to be of utmost importance as they fought over shapes from the common pile (and now they know the word hexagon and trapezoid!). Every now and then they called me in from the kitchen to look at a particular design before breaking it down and starting over. Sis took a break in the middle, to help me with the soup--she likes to wash the veggies and then drop them in the pot once I've cut them. Gommie took her own break on the floor next to Bud, doing yoga poses to stretch herself out after two nights on an inflatable bed.