playtime

"A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine." ~unknown

Anyone who has seen Ava play knows that she has quite an imagination. She has an imaginary friend (Roger) who pops up at random times throughout our day. Sometimes we have to remember to set him a place at the dinner table. Sometimes we have to buckle him in the back seat of the van. Sometimes he's at home with his own mom. Sometimes Ava has to send him emails from my computer.
Lately, she's been expanding her imaginary "friends". She teaches ballet to a living room full of students. She makes beds out of pillows and blankets for her "kids" to take naps. The other day I heard her using a very firm voice in the other room; then she came up to me and said "My kids are not listening to me!"
But one of my favorite things to watch is when she plays with her babies. And this has been going on since before she turned one year. She carries, shushes, rocks, and nurses her babies; she gives them baths, changes their diapers, and dresses them.
Well, today I saw her go into her room and close the door, which means I immediately got up to open it because we can't leave 3-year-olds unsupervised behind closed doors. The door was locked, so I played the game of knock-knock-who's-there, and she unlocked the door for me. I could smell the baby powder even before I opened it. This is what I found.











Although I had just recently cleaned up this mess from when she discovered the joy of playing with powder (and Desitin) a couple of days ago, I wasn't mad.



Instead I ran to get my camera so I could capture this little reminder that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine.








And speaking of playtime in our daily routine...Lia loves to play with the laundry part of our routine. She throws clothes in the washer, slams the door shut, and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s to push the buttons that get this machine to make noise.





Who needs toys when you have baby powder and laundry?