I don't know if activity/school vacation or a new older age or even new toys for Christmas caused this, but the kids have been playing. I know, weird. Kids are supposed to play. But for whatever reason, my kids get stuck in their ruts of reading and Pokemon cards and watching movies. It's not like they don't have toys! We have five kid birthdays and Christmas which ends up being 10 kid gift holidays per year! Plus all the hand-me-downs from older sisters. That's a lot of toys!
So the last few weeks have been heavenly. They play and play and play and play. They are dressing up, setting up World War II battles, building forts, sparring and sword fighting, sitting in the little bus they used when they were toddlers, building with blocks, playing with dolls... any activity a kid could do, they have done. One of my favorites is Toy Hide n Seek, where the kids hide their toys and one toy looks for them. Which ever kids came up with that idea is brilliant! Their favorite toy right now is the dollhouse M and I dragged home from Goodwill (we are so glad we waited until after Christmas and got this $5 plastic house instead of the $100 house from Costco). Even the boys are playing with the doll house-with animals and aliens.
The Living Room & New Dollhouse!
And they have been going outside! One would think that living on 15 glorious acres would keep a kid outside all day long. But I think they've gotten used to it and forget what it was like to have a small yard with a fence. Yesterday they played Arctic Adventures (in shorts) and S slipped and cut his knee pretty bad.
And my house is absolutely trashed! Every single room has toys out on the floor. If they were just sitting there while the kids read and played Pokemon, I would be really bugged. But the gang of kids rotate throughout the house all day, having fun!
The Playroom: Trashed
Even D gets in on the action. E has started playing with him. She isn't quite pretending that he is the baby and she is the mama, but more like he is the baby and she is going to drag him around play with him, whether he likes it or not. He has started babbling (ba-ba-ba for the last three days).
I think the best part about them playing is the sibling bonds. I have not heard, "Can I invite a friend over?" or "I bored," or "I wish I could (fill in the blank)." They certainly have their moments where they get all grumpy and irritated with each other, but for the most part they are each others friends. I heard them cheering for D yesterday when he stood up all by himself. S got all upset when M beat E at sword fighting. Even F, the possessive two year old hollers, "That's MY sister (or brother)!" I just love that.
I am going to have a hard time starting school back up tomorrow.
