Play with me Mamma

January 12

It is finally Saturday! This has been a long week. My first grader needs me. I can see it in her face. Her eyes get a little watery and she looks tired. When we come home from getting donuts I leave the garage door open (my new habit) and immediately my girls ask to play outside. Out come the bikes and the scooters. I really really want to go inside and get some stuff done. I can't remember now what was so pressing but you know, there is always stuff. Stuff to do. But I realize this is the prefect time to play outside. So I resist the urge to sort junk mail, start lunch, or fold laundry and I stay in the driveway.

"Play with me Mamma," says my tired girl. Oh, I don't get to hear those words nearly enough these days. Yes, my sweet first born, I think, I would love to play with you. I miss you when you are at school and I know you are growing so fast into a little lady but I would LOVE to play with you. And so ensues a fantastic hour of play. My little one and I are clearly expected to follow along and that is fine with us. My six year old in her perfectly developmental stage of loving rules, spends lots of time and many words describing how we are going to play. "Now when we are here, it is the roof, so you can't get us."  "Then we will run and you have to try and get us, but you can't because then we will be here and that is inside the big tree, for pretend, and you can't get us there." On an on she goes, with lots of "Pause the game!" and "No, you are supposed to not see us right now!" I love it. I do my best to follow her instructions and her little sister is over the moon to be included in a game with BOTH her big sister and her Mommy. We run and chase and laugh and talk and chase some more.

This play sets the tone for the rest of the day. There is more imaginative play inside and more sweetness between my girls. The TV is off and we are finally just home together as a family.