"Hi, what's your name?"

I haven't taken very many pictures of the babes lately because, well, they would almost all look like this.

This was taken today in the morning light. They were outside by 8 and playing hard. I keep peeking outside and this is what I see. Sister and brother, crouching down talking, talking, talking with trains. When I went out to take this picture I was quickly told that they wanted to "be alone". Sniff,sniff. Honestly, though, I LOVE to see them play together. I marvel at the simplicity of their play and at the relational theme to almost everything they do.

I have tried to slip in some new activities lately but it always goes back to, "Hi, what's your name?" I found some sorting bears at a yard sale for like .25 and was so excited because I have wanted them for a while. You know, there are five plastic cups in five colors and then about 10 bears in each color and then they sort them into the matching colored cups. You can practice counting, sorting, patterns, etc. So, I introduced them and they did have fun sorting the colors but when I went in the kitchen to check on dinner and then came back, the bears were all going for a joy ride in one of their toy cars...chatting as they went along:)

Then I found a Little Bear game at the thrift store and I thought, "bingo!" It's their beloved Little Bear, and it's a game...it's about time to start playing games, right? Not so much. "Hi, my name is Little Bear. What's your name? Let's go for a walk! Let's swim in the pond! I'm hungry, said Little Bear."

Then I found some Bubble Bears (you press their tummies and the bubble wand comes up, meaning no messy bubble hands) I had forgotten to give them for their birthday. After a few minutes of bubble play, "Hi, what's your name? I'm a blue bear. Let's go dig for clams." End of bubble play.

I'm sure if I look in a "Parenting your 3 year old" book this type of play is common at this age, but I think it is pretty special to see the two of them getting to live in that world together. They aren't into sports (a neighbor brought over a hand me down basketball goal and Amelia said, "Is it baseball?" ), they don't get into puzzles or games right now, but their conversations are pretty fabulous and I don't ever want to forget them talking, talking, talking in the morning light. Fresh air, animals and trains and bugs and snacks, and these little ones are happy as larks. Oh, that does remind me of the disclaimer for this post. Ahem, Sam and Amelia are not always happy while playing in their imaginary world. Sometimes they need a lot of intervention from mama to use kind words, to not snatch the other's toy, to not scream and wail at "insignificant" things, etc. For a few weeks I thought I might pull my hair out with all of the fussing during their play. I think I must have said, "Is that a kind thing to do/say to your brother/sister? (no). Is love rude?(no) What is love? (kind)" about a trillion times. Slowly, though, the fusses seem to be becoming less and less. I am sure this will be a roller coaster for many years to come! Even with the extra fusses though, i think it is pretty special to have a playmate just your size all the day long.

To end this post, I'll give you a real time play by play of a conversation going on right outside the door between two (toy) froggies,

A: "This is a lot of food for us." (They are snacking on cheerios)

S: " Here you go, said the froggie"

A: "Thank you said the froggie"

Long pause, lots of crunching.

A: "Thank you said the froggie"

A" The bear went over the hill, over the hill, over the hill" (singing)

S: "The bear went over the meadow, the meadow, the meadow, to see what he can see." ( I have no idea where they learned this song!

A: "I know! We could eat crabs!"

S: "How about ants?"

A: "Yes, they are good for you!"

A: "Ewwwww! You should eat a cheerio"

S:" Croak, croak. I better get a new cheerio. Croak, croak. " Amelia carries one over between the froggies arms"

S: " One, two, three, four, five, seven, eight. One two, three..." as he counts out cheerios for the frogs.

A: "Good! You better get lots of them."

S: " growl!" (I guess Amelia interrupted his counting)

A: " Are you not done yet?"

Mama intervenes to stop the cheerios from being put in the dirty table for the frogs to eat. Sammy asks mama to "Go away please. Be quiet." Mama tells Sam that it is not okay to talk to mama like that or to tell mama to be quiet and to obey and put the cheerios back in the bowl. He obeys and then says, "I'm sorry mama," and melts my heart on the spot.

And the conversation continues.

All for now,

Jen