Boots, Blocks, and Dirty Socks

Audrey is starting to refine her motor skills and is now able to use her hands for activities that require some precision.  She uses these newfound skills when playing with her "blocks."  They are actually plastic 3D shapes that are hollow and have an opening on one side.  She has 2 sets, one of which is slightly smaller than the other.  So, she has discovered that she can put the smaller square inside of the bigger one, and so on.  In general, she just loves putting items inside of other things.  Here are a few stories about Audrey's newest fascination: 

One morning last week, I was getting ready for work, and looked over to see Audrey put the square blocks together, and then drop them inside of my rain boot. She then decided she wanted them back, so she tried to fetch them, but realized that would require her to stand and stretch to get her hand down to the bottom of the boot.  After much effort, she managed to pull the small of the two blocks out of the boot, but it was no longer inside of the bigger one. She stuck her face into the opening of the boot to try to see it, but of course had no light to see where the other block might be. She stuck her hand down there and fished around, but still couldn't find it. Then, she tried dropping the smaller block in and pulling it back out. I am not sure if she was expecting the other block to reappear at some point, but after about 5 times, she got tired of it. I finally fished out the big block, which had gone into the toe of the boot. That is probably why she couldn't find it.

Saturday was laundry day.  I had a ton of laundry to do, so I sorted it in piles on the floor. Throughout the day, I would fold the load in the dryer, move another load to the dryer, and put a new one in the washer, etc. Audrey was fascinated by the whole process, and really liked to pull socks (both hers and ours) out of the piles on the floor and drag them into other parts of the house.  She would also sit and stare at the washer during the spin cycle, because it is a front loader with a clear plastic door.  After moving some clothes out of the washer and into the dryer, I was hanging up some shirts and left the washer door open.  Audrey walked over to the pile of dirty clothes I had sitting by the washer, picked up a pair of her pants, walked over to the washer, and put her pants in it.  After watching me all day, she had figured out the system.  I couldn't believe how quickly she caught on.  It makes me really aware of just how much she is learning from my every action.   

Yesterday, she got the remote from the TV in the bedroom off of the nightstand.  With the remote in hand, she walked into the kitchen, where the dogs' bowls sit.  Next thing we knew, she dropped the remote in the water bowl.  It is now sitting in a cup full of rice on the kitchen counter drying out.