Before Adam was born, my husband said to me, 'All he really needs to play with is a rock and a stick.' I thought this was really mean of him, knowing that I wanted him to have all these lavish toys. Lots of fun things that every boy would love to play with. Now that I see the abundance of things we DO have, I kinda am on the same bandwagon that he is. But besides that, I have really come to realize the power of imagination. I love seeing him use things that weren't necessarily intended to be used that way. I remember as a kid playing Barbies at a friends house and I was all upset because the Barbie didn't have a bed. The girl said, 'that's alright, we'll use something else and pretend it's a bed.' It's all in the power of imagination. I love seeing that in action.
This week my nephew has been up staying with my in laws. He is 3 months younger than Adam and they LOVE playing together. I think if I can remember right, it rained a little on Sunday so on Monday we had some lovely puddles in the driveway- every 3 year olds dream. Joe and Adam (and Van too God love him) decided they were going to make a road. Now, this is not any simple road I tell you. This project has been worked on for an entire week, no exaggeration. And to say that they spend hours each day working on it, is no lie either. On Monday they started digging a hole basically. (You can kind of see it right before the stacks of boards, they are left overs from the pool fence.) They would go over to the puddles and pick up about an ounce of mud and carry it over to the hole. They used large shovels and sandbox shovels and sticks. Van was right there in the mix, following along. About 3 hours each day was spent on this road. By about Wednesday the puddles were dried up but that didn't stop them, they just got out more tools. Rakes, hoes, and picks came into the mix at this point. Each morning Adam would wake up he would tell me, I've got to go and work on my road.
Yesterday (Friday) I finally snagged a couple of pictures. As you can see they drug out a bunch of stuff I guess to complete the project? I am not really sure. There was a rope there at one point and they tied the four wheeler up to a cone. They found that piece of paper they are looking at, and they told me those are the directions to build the road. I am not sure if they really need them or not, it looks like they know what they are doing.
Watching them play just made me fall in love with them all over again. I am such a huge supporter of free play and imagination and this was it in the making. They needed nothing more than what they were provided with. They used their imaginations, and worked together. Being outside for as long as they wanted to be, not in a structured setting- they were just acting like 3 year old little boys- and I love it. I am sticking with my husband and saying, all little boys need to play with are two things- a rock and a stick. (And PS, Adam had to wear his work boots EVERY time because he was working.) :)
