Play

This week was wide open. We had no camps or activites scheduled during the day and so the kids played. They decided one evening they should play Harry Potter. Rachael spearheaded the gathering of cloaks, ties, wands and "wizarding" school books and organized the cast of characters. It literally took hours to work out the details of this play time.  They went so far as to build a hippogriff, using the quilt rack, hobby horse, 4 chairs, pillows and paper for wings. As my sister pointed out when we were growing up, half of the fun was the setting up. Megan (Professor Sprout) assitied and Bridget (Ginny Weasley) tagged along. Emma stayed in her room with a pen and notepad, doing what I am not sure. Emma used to be the director of play at our house but she seems to be letting Rachael take the lead a little more often now. Emma did join the play once the action started as did the cousins. I am so grateful that they play and entertain eachother this way.

The girls also played Dog. They took turns being pet owners, pet supply store owers and of course dogs. It made me laugh to see the girls crawl through the house with stretchy collars on. Jim had to clearly rule out the use of real food and water during pretend play time. The Shumaker cousins were great additions to the production and they spent the whole morning at it. We did have drama when owner Rachael would not allow Megan to be a pug. Neither Megan nor Rachael would compromise on the type of pretend dog Megan would be and the playing dissolved into crying and anger. The other dogs kept at it. When the middle two could handle it, they joined the cannine cast again.

Having the week's schedule open also allowed for an importu play date for Rachael and one for Emma, as well as a playdate with the Gaithersburg Jauquets too. I could get used to this.

Oh wait, school starts in 10 days.