Noah's Ark Little People play set, flannel board "animals and their homes" and forest animal magnet boards . . . why, the boys don't even realize they're learning! They are, after all, only two years old; a time when 95% of their time should be spent hard at work playing.
They're thrilled when I pull out the very special sets to play with, all the while practicing the animal names out loud. They run to the cupboard and bang on the drawers and say "toy, toy, toy" so I will pull out what, in actuality, is a learning tool that I've been using with them.
I love scouring the 'net for new activities and am constantly emailing my friends for ideas they've tried with their own kids. My sister, Heather, is regularly emailing me links to blogs that get my creative juices flowing. It is so incredibly worth every effort and each moment of time it takes to plan something new. When I see their eyes light up when I pull out a new craft or even present something to them in a different way, it makes my heart smile.
It is a challenge not to get frustrated by the mess and to reign myself in when one of them runs off with one of the pieces to an activity set and tosses it down the floor vent, but I'm working on it. I keep telling myself that these are new skills they're learning - even just sitting still for any length of time - and breathe in and out a few times when my "orderly tendencies" are tested by the messiness of toddlerhood. I remind myself not to expect too much and to remember that it really is all just play.
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