It arrived in the mail one day, suspiciously close to a comment Curtis made to me. He’d said, “why don’t you do your own and let the babies do their own?”

When it arrived in the mail, I smiled, and then wondered where I would put it. I mean, a 500 piece puzzle takes up a lot of space. Where to put it so we wouldn’t lose any pieces became a concern.

One day early in Chanya’s life–maybe week 2 or so, Xay told me it was time to start the puzzle. “I don’t know where to do it,” I protested. But Xay persisted, and cleared off the coffee table in the family room. “It will be safe here,” he promised.

Well, that puzzle was very intriguing to the babies. For about a week. Then they lost interest. Curtis, Xay and I worked on it at various times. They had made way more headway than I had during that time.

When Keisha and her family came to visit, the puzzle was just way too fascinating for her babies. They cleared it out in a couple swipes. Keisha felt so bad about it that she bought me a puzzle mat. You can actually roll up your puzzle and put it away with that nifty device!

I was pretty heartbroken at first with having to start over with the puzzle, but this time I got organized about it. I grouped the pieces into separate baggies, labeling what I thought they were, and worked on the puzzle one group at a time. In the end, I had all the leftover pieces on the table, and it was an open invitation for anyone to work on it.

Xay and I finished it this morning. We only lost one piece. The puzzle has been on the table for at least 7 weeks. I’m sure I don’t know what to do with myself.