Interactive Play

This week we went to a couple of play dates and I sat back to watch all the boys play. Boy, do they know how to play hard! I don't know when the transition exactly happened, but it seems like just yesterday Joshua and all of his peers were just playing side by side with no real interaction between them unless they had a toy that they wanted for themselves. I watched how elaborate their imaginations can get when they have free reigns over their environment.

The first play date consisted of four 3-year old boys mixed in with a few toddlers and 2 girls that mostly played on their own upstairs. The 4 boys had a plastic Buzzlightyear costume, 2 long sleeved polyester policeman costumes & a plastic firefighter costume to rotate among them. There were plenty of toy guns, a few toy rescue vehicles and a whole backyard equipped with a wooden playground structure, grass field & sandbox. The weather was very warm and muggy (for ABQ) that morning but that didn't stop them from layering on the costumes and running around- us mommies were sweating just watching them play! I wish I had my camera or better yet, a camcorder with me to capture the intensity and energy of their play. They were all on a mission to capture the bad guys and even figured out how to assign each other duties to work together to achieve their mission... well, in the end I think they captured the imaginary 'bad guys' & the were ready for lunch and lots of cold water! They were even pretty good at trading (thus sharing) their costumes with each other (a big milestone to watch a group of 3 year olds share without a fight!).

The 2nd play date consisted of Josh & Kyle, plus 2 other 3-year old friends and their baby siblings (6 boys total!). The three 3-year olds were mostly playing outside while the mommies were inside with the babies. We checked up on the older boys every few minutes to make sure they were alright... We heard a few squeals of glee, so we all peaked out to see what they were doing. They had collaborated together to move a kiddie pool to the grass, turn the garden hose on and start to fill it up. All of a sudden the clothes were flying and by the time we were able to get outside, there were 3 boys running around the yard buck naked spraying each other with the hose! Their laughter was contagious, so us moms just looked at each other and laughed too!