To play or not to play

Jaxon, crawling out of the boys' dinosaur cave.
Dexter, trying to make one of his ride-on toys fit inside the cave.

Some days, I act as activities coordinator, suggesting and overseeing almost everything the boys do. In some ways, this is a good thing. We can incorporate letters and numbers into our games, I can teach them songs and nursery ryhmes, we can read stories... and I get some great playtime with the boys. Recently, however, as I find that my energy is waning a bit... I have found great pleasure in sitting back and watching the boys come up with their own play scenarios. Usually, they are far more inventive than anything I could come up with and so very entertaining from my vantage point from behind the stove or sitting on the couch.

We've had dinosaur caves (above), a volcano under the kitchen table, the carpet frequently turns into an ocean of hot lava and the sofa cushions have recently become waterfalls on several occasions. Of course, there are still times when the play is more of a battle than cooperative interractions... this morning, I had to separate the boys more than once after they couldn't agree on whether or not they were building towers or knocking them down (Jaxon is our dear little demoliton man). So, I find myself resting precariously between intervening and letting them create their own play. I guess, as with all things, there's a balance and, as my friend Allison likes to point out, by the time I've figured this one out, we'll have moved on to other issues in parenting... :)