Anna's Triangles

While I was cooking dinner the kids were playing underfoot with magnatiles. At some point I looked down and saw Anna's work, pictured below.

She had made it all by herself. It was constructed entirely of the square shaped magnatiles. There was a cube in the middle and on each side she had made triangular prisms and placed a square lid on top. It was beautiful and I thought of it as a teachable moment. Then I thought better. I did what I knew I should; I didn't say anything. It was so hard for me to be quiet. I wanted to say something about the shapes. I wanted to suggest she find the equilateral triangles to replace the lids of the triangular prisms. I wanted to do it for her because I'm often impulsive and want to play too. But I didn't. I quietly snapped the picture and wondered where she toddled off to. 

The next time I looked down I saw that she had replaced the square lids with the triangle lids. I quickly grabbed my camera, not quickly enough to capture both sides in complete symmetry, but enough to get the picture below. She had retrieved different triangle shaped magnatiles and added them to her creation. Again, I bit my tongue, which was exceedingly difficult for me, and let her do her work. 

It was a proud moment for me. I was proud that I heeded Janet Lansbury's advice to let our children play. I was proud that Anna built something and continued to change it and play with shapes. I was proud that Mikey kept his attention on his own work and didn't interfere with his sister. All around, it was absolutely wonderful.