Afternoon Antics

My plan for an after-school activity today was to get going on making Valentine's.  That lasted a little while, but pretty soon, O and L were rehearsing a show in the living room, with O plunking on the piano and L doing a ballet/modern dance in a bridal dress from the dress-up box.  They were very serious about the show, as usual.  I did my best to corral the baby in my lap to watch, and he clapped for a while at the dancing bride, but pretty soon, he moved on.

We broke up the performance and promised to reconvene after more rehearsals. I went to change the baby's diaper, and O followed me.  Spotting a diaper box, he dumped out the diapers and disappeared with the box.  I later glanced into the family room and saw him on the floor with grown-up scissors, stabbing them into the box.  Amid sawing noises, I kept hollering, "Are you being careful?" in my best school-marm voice.

The next thing I know, I am bathing the baby, and in walks a robot! O had made the box into a robot costume all by himself. How do kids learn these things?

Maybe I am too easily impressed by what a five-year-old can make out of a box, but I think I'm also impressed by the act of making something out of nothing.  How often do we see raw materials--or even garbage--and create? Poof!  I also like that there are a million plastic toys and trucks and action figures and builder things hanging around, but he chose the cardboard box instead.

I had been talking on the phone with my friend in Paris yesterday, and we were recounting a few childhood memories.  We both have strong memories of us as children planning elaborate games and playing, but we don't remember parent involvement.  Yet, we had and still have very involved moms.  We aren't sure if we don't remember because we were too little, and by the time our memories kicked in, we were more independent; OR if we don't remember because our parents let us play and didn't organize our play.  Either way, we liked thinking about how we played, and it made us wonder why we all feel the need to plan "play dates." Do we feel like supermom when we decorate cookies and have special crafts?  Will that be what our kids remember? Or will it be the backyard fort they dream up and build on their own?  I don't know. I'm just asking.