24.

i can remember a day over two years ago a good friend of mine told me that her then three year old daughter loved puzzles. she said "she's doing 24 pieces now." Noah was older than her (by over 6 months) and was doing peg puzzles (a bunch of individual pieces on a wooden board). I love her daughter like one of my own, truly. love her because of the magnificent soul that she is, and also because for not one day has she judged or looked differently at noah. she always saw him as her friend. she never saw his disabilities, just him. and i remember that was one of those days. i remember thinking that this tiny three year old was doing 24-piece jigsaw puzzles and not only could noah not do that, but i couldn't even conceive of a time when he may. it was in the very, very distant future and i knew it. and as she told me about this feat that her daughter had accomplished, i was first shocked and then maybe a little green. and i wondered if she knew how big of a deal that was. in my world it was miraculous.

noah is such a smart little guy. he has always loved puzzles. and the peg type puzzles are easy for him because they go in only one way and the manipulating of the piece is minimal. his fine motor and motor planning skills have always been a challenge for him. in his head he knew how things went, but has always had a difficult time executing his thoughts. his body just doesn't always co-operate. last spring, i sat in a meeting surrounded by people in my little boy's life: his teacher, his school speech therapist, OT, PT, administrators, psychologists, social workers, etc. And i asked the question i ask every spring. "what do we need to work on this summer the most?" One of the very first things to come up was puzzles. His teacher said, "did you know that noah struggles with puzzles and currently is unable to put together two pieces of a puzzle without assistance?" i did know that. i hated that. i wanted to help him or do it for him. i knew that in him he knew where all the pieces went, but he just couldnt' get them together. and if he's not successful, he tends to not try over and over again. i knew all of it. but it was then that joe and i made the commitment to work hard over the summer to overcome this hurdle.

we started with two piece jigsaw puzzles (yes, they do make them, although they are not easy to find). i would make a color copy of the puzzle and laminate it (yes, heidi, i know lamination was a waste-- but i needed it to last!). noah would build the puzzle on top of the true-to-size laminated copy. it made it easier for him. once he mastered it, i would take away the copy and let him do it alone. then we moved on to three-piece and then four piece, then six, and eight. this way of teaching him was working better than any other way i had tried. why didn't i think of it before?!this helped him to be successful and at last, he wanted to keep learning and trying.

we had that meeting at his school in may. and we worked on puzzles every single day this summer. yesterday, for the very first time, noah did a 24-piece puzzle entirely on his own. no laminated copy, no help. it took him some time, but he stuck with it. he did it. my little boy did what two years ago seemed to be unreachable. and i had tears--yesterday and today as i write.

again, this boy has taught me not to underestimate him and his abilities. not for a minute.