Playing together...

Danny and I have a pretty perfect little family.  I mean, we actually have the 2.4 kids (Jax can't really count as a whole kid yet, can he?), and two girls and a boy mean things are fairly even in this house.  Not to mention that there's between a year and a half and two years between each of the kids, and we've struck child gold.  That means we get to enjoy all those good things people say about having kids close together.  For example, that they play together!

When it was just Gracie playing, she used to lay on the playmats in our living room and colour.  Quietly.  Sometimes she would sing songs, and it was just adorable.  She would play like that for hours, perfectly content to entertain herself.  Then Ella became old enough to play with her and, wow, did our lives improve.  I mean, from playing quietly by oneself, to two active toddlers playing with each other?  The change has been fantastic!

For those of you unaware of what it is like to have two toddlers play together, let me describe it for you.  Because it is just amazing!  First, let me set the scene for you:

The living room is clean, there are plenty of toys to be shared, and the two toddlers have enjoyed a good night's sleep.  This is a recipe for awesomeness!  But let's not forget the other components to this scenario.  If you would, please pinch the nearest baby extra hard so that you can have some background noise to the "playing" that is about to take place.  Also, please turn a pot of spaghetti sauce on the stove, and let it start boiling and bubbling everywhere (good moms multi-task, dontcha know!). For good measure, and only if you're brave enough, please find some sort of mechanism or person to continually pinch your nipples over and over again to signify a breastfeeding mother enjoying the "playing."  If they could make the nipples bleed, that would be ideal.  Oh, but don't use your husband.  He should be strategically placed, either (a) in the bathroom with his computer, having a 2-hour poop, (b) on the couch "helping" to watch the kids while staring into his cell phone and developing sudden hearing loss, or (c) outside doing chores, because even though the lawn hasn't been mowed for 3 weeks, he knows "playing" is about to occur and chores must be completed this very minute.  If you have animals, please have your dog maniacally hump your cat over and over again while the cat tries to run away, hissing the whole time.  Of course, the dog should follow, quickly and clumsily, knocking over and into anything in her way.

Okay, everybody ready?  Let the "playing" commence.

Gracie and Ella have decided to play Barbies.  A favourite past-time.  They're close in age, which means they have the same ideas about how to play Barbies.  Today, the Barbie sisters are going to the doctor.

Gracie: "Ella, it's time to take Anna to the doctor."

Ella: "No."

Gracie: "Ella, I'm older and you have to listen to me."

Ella: "No."

Gracie: "Fine.  Then Suzy is going to the doctor without Anna!"

Ella: "Noooooo!!!"

Gracie runs down the hall with her Barbie, Suzy, while Ella runs after her, screaming for Gracie not to leave Anna behind.  They both eventually make it to the doctor, and Ella only cries a little bit.

Ella: "Gracie, I'll be the doctor, okay?"

Gracie: "Fine, but then I get to be the doctor after."

Ella: "Okay.  Here Suzy, it's time to get a needle."

Gracie: "Suzy doesn't need a needle, because she's really a secret monster with scary powers and she's going to eat the doctor!!!"

Ella: "Ahhhhh!  I don't like monsters!!!  Mommmmmmy, Gracie is being a scary monster!"

Gracie: "No, I'm NOT, mommy!!!!!"

Ella: "Yes she are!!"

Gracie: *whispers* "If you tell mommy on me, a monster will eat you, too!"

Ella: *screams*

They sort out the monster situation and start playing again.  They each decide to add another Barbie to the game.  More Barbies mean more fun.  Obviously.

Gracie: "Oh, look!  Another Barbie, I think I'll use this one!"

Ella: "I want that one!"

Gracie: "No, it's mine."

Ella: "I want it!"

Gracie: "You want it?  Okay, here."

Ella: *reaches for Barbie*

Gracie: "Hahaha, just kidding!"

Ella: *screams and cries*

Gracie: "Fine, here take it.  I'll take this one instead.  It has magic powers anyway."

Ella: "I want magic powers!"

Gracie: "You can't have magic powers, I'm the big sister, and you're just the little one."

Ella: *hits Gracie in the face*

Gracie: "Mommy, Ella hit me!!"

Ella: "Gracie said I couldn't have magic powers!"

Thank goodness, play time has only just started, so we have lots more of this wonderfulness to endure.  After about 15 minutes of playing together, the conversation looks something like this:

Gracie: "Ellllla!!"

Ella: "Unnnngh!"

Gracie: "Ellllllllllllla!!!!!!"

Ella: "NOOOOOO!"

Gracie: *shrieks*

Ella: *shrieks louder*

Gracie: *pushes Ella over*

Ella: *jumps on top of Gracie's head*

Gracie: "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ella: *spitting sound*

Yes, having kids close together in age means they can entertain each other for hours.  Of course, mothers only need intervene every 4.2 seconds, and only dole out time-outs every 4th or 5th transgression.  If you're a smart mommy, like me, you will learn to send them to a room far across the house to play, where you only have to hear the loudest and most pain-filled cries, and can pretend, just for a few moments, that your children are playing quietly and peacefully together.  

And, thankfully for us, in another year and a half, we can add a third toddler to this playing mix, to increase the awesomeness of playing together.  It's going to be fantastic, wonderful, and just  absolutely delightful! :)

They always look like this when they play together, I swear!!