Sorting, categorizing

Gus has been working away on sorting and making categories of things--not something we even thought to steer him towards, so thank goodness babies are smart enough to learn what they need to know without their clueless parents. Gus has always been one for puzzles and fine motor stuff and working out little problems, as you can see.
Here, he made stacks of each kind of duplo.

Here is a careful arrangement (tableau, perhaps) of animals in a barn that he took some time with, arranging and rearranging different combinations. I predict drama with the addition of polar bears.

Forks. This is what happens when you don't install cabinet and drawer locks.

He likes making forts. Here, he has barricaded himself into a kitchen corner with chairs (including his highchair). Obviously, he was pretty pleased with himself. He read here for quite some time.

Here he is sorting buttons from Mama's button tin. He is so very careful and engaged with this activity--putting buttons in little piles according to, usually, bigness and smallness, but also texture and other, less ascertained (by us) categories. Also, just moving them from one pile or container to another is fun. "But won't he eat them/choke one them/put them up his nose?" Well, the thing is, that's just not Gus--though we do supervise obviously.