My Play Weekend

       I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community today. It's always a pleasure to read what everyone writes about their lives.

         “It is a happy talent to know how to play.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

      You probably already know, for sure, that a large slice of my life includes my two grand-girls. A part of my heart will always be occupied by them and by my grandson, now in another state and growing up so fast. He's fifteen and about to get his driver's permit! Wow!

      Saturday and Sunday I stayed at my daughter, Sarah & son-in-law, Dave's home with the grand-girls so that the parents could go away for these short two days to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. They have a new dog, a rescued two year old cattle dog, so we all thought it would be better to stay at their home. He was great, and now I know him better, a nice thing. We did not go anywhere, but spent the days together. We played, they played, I read, they played, I cooked, they played, I did laundry, we played, we read, they entertained. We watched some funny mini-movies that held magic and fairies in a bit of mystery, And then we read more books, and the girls played some more. We didn't have to go anywhere, and usually we do, but it was one of those weekends when there was no expectation except fun.

         My favorite picture: the girls listen to and watch a lot of music videos with their parents and they know many songs. They also love to create their own music and words, and sometimes those words are nonsense, BUT THEY RHYME! And they show how they know that some songs have words and the lines end with "oo, oo, oo" or something like that." Ingrid and Imogene gave me a big show Saturday night. I took a few pics, and it was fun to see. It's their own duet, singing against each other, some kind of argument, then getting together.

If you'd like to know about their mikes: Ingrid is using a pla-dough can, &
Imogene is using a play-food bottle upside down!

           The importance of play has been written about in more than one place recently. Here is one recent one linking the decline of play in pre-schoolers to the rise in sensory issues. Within the article there are links to other similarly-themed articles. Ingrid and Imogene are not perfect. They quarrel when they can't agree about "what" to play. They sometimes spend a lot of time preparing a certain play-pretend agenda, so much that by the time they start in, they tire and it isn't working as expected, so doesn't last very long. Also, the age difference sometimes really does make a difference in the "how", the "what" and "ease of preparation". They are five and seven years old and still learning about choices and decisions and how planning works (or how it doesn't). But I find they're on their way, and we had a great time together. 

        We also baked and ate quite a few delicious chocolate cupcakes!