Push - Pull

I love wooden toys.  If I had my way we would only have wooden toys here at my house (and Legos of course, who could be without Legos?).  But, alas, wooden toys seem to be some of the most expensive toys you can buy.  Frustrating.  

For Christmas, Pam got Bennett a wooden snake that is on a string.  You undo the string and take all the pieces off the snake and then put it back together.  So far this has been a relatively boring toy.  I, of course, love it.  The boys on the other hand, don't.  They like to take it apart and throw the wooden balls about but that is about it.  I still push the toy on them like any horrible parent pushes toys they think their children should like.  Well today it worked.  And they love it!!!  Bennett and Will spent 30 minutes stringing the beads onto the snake, saying 'Ssssss' and  then pulling them off to do all over again.  And what a challenge!  "Push the string through the hole.  Now pull the string through the whole.  Oops!  Try again."  And they did.  They tried and tried until they could do it.  Such concentration.  Push, pull, push, pull.  And then they would lose a little focus and forget that they had to hold onto the bead and it would drop off onto the grounds.  "Oops!  Try again."  And they did!!  What proud boys they were.