Brock gets Perplexed

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Brock has always been interested in our Perplexus puzzle balls. It's basically a large 3D track contained in a ball. You roll/balance a tiny ball-bearing along the track by tilting the ball. For most of his life, they have just been large colored balls with a rattle inside. Over the past couple months he's become an eager spectator of daddy. He'll call out which ball he wants me to use ("blue" or "colored") then he'll get right in my lap and enjoy the frustration on my face as his wiggling derails my run. It's basically, "hey daddy, you play games while I watch." OK by me!

Well last night after watching a few of his favorite sections ("spiral!" and "ball fall into cup!") Brock picked up the second ball and loudly asked, "how do I do this?" So I put the ball on the start of the track and handed it over, expecting lots of failure and frustration, which is, of course, the point and totally ok. I was so wrong. This kid has been paying attention. The concept was a breeze to him, and he went right through the first 4 turns. He had a little trouble on the first purple part, and would ask for daddy-help the first few times, then he got it. After that, I was no longer allowed to help. He's pretty much stalled out at the 10th obstacle, and he will NOT let me show him how to do it, which is just fine by me. Well just keep going "again!" until he has it conquered all by himself.

This is his 4th attempt ever. He'd still accept a bit of help at this point.

This is somewhere around try #10. You can see that the intensity has leveled up significantly. There's no helping this guy.

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