More Play Indicated
My kid wants legos. Absolutely. But more than that he wants love, in the form of not shaming him for being how he is and wanting what he wants when he wants it. Whether he gets it or not is another story.
We do a lot of playful negotiating. Like yesterday, it was rainy and I wanted to take a rainy day walk AND to wash his hair in the shower.
He wanted to build a pillow fort in the living room with every sofa cushion in the house and have me sit in there with him making shadow puppets.
I didn’t really want to do that. It sounds cute, and it is, but I’m also just not that kind of mom.
Then I pulled the animal medicine cards and got the otter card — indicating more playfulness recommended.
So I got in the fort. We played mommy and baby fish shadow puppets, him being the baby who weirdly chomped the mommy while I feigned agony, “Nooooo baby don’t chomp mommy!”
“CHOMP!”
“Aaaargh I’m being chomped!”
He laughed hysterically as little fish hands “ate” my big fish hands.
And then I couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Can we please go for a walk now?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Ok then what about a shower?”
“No.”
“Well, we did what you wanted to do and now it’s my turn. Do you want to take a shower or a walk next?”
“Ummm, neither?” Eyes twinkling smile that he knows is cute.
“Ok, fine. Would you rather wash hair in the bath?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, so you choose, we can walk, we can shower, or we can take a bath.”
“Bath.”
“Done.”
And I got him in the bath with a (yes) plastic cup and an old kids toothbrush with a suction on the end and he and I played for about two hours in the tub experimenting with that cup and toothbrush.
I listened to his requests to be gentle with the hair washing. I checked in many times asking, “how is that pressure?”
“That’s good. You can do it stronger than that if you want.”
“No I can stay gentle and get the dirt out that way.”
The business part done we went back to marveling at the suction of the toothbrush. The vacuum of the cup and water, and the general fascinating way soap suds disappear and reappear when water is agitated.
Eventually, my antsy-ness flared up again and I tried to wrap it up.
“Ok, I gotta go wash dishes.”
“No come back don’t go.” he said.
“Okay.” I said. And it went on, from one tiny little play moment to the next. All. Day. Long.
And I never got my walk. But I got a lot of hugs and snuggles and by the end of the day I was able to say to him, honestly, “I had the best day ever with you today.”
“I had the best day ever with you too,” he said. And he hugged me and smiled. And that is 100% true.
I’m gonna keep going.
