I was at my 2 year old grandson's birthday party recently and while enjoying the festivities one of my beautiful, smart and interesting granddaughters asked me, "Gamma, come play with me?" Now this particular granddaughter wasn't the 14 year old. Oh noooo, that one may have asked me to trade make-up or dating tips; which I felt reasonably equipped to handle. No, the granddaughter in question was the 3 year old whose idea of play involves real play; like dolls and trucks for instance. What else could I say, but a resounding and eager, “Sure Honey, why not?”
Now I’m 55 and haven’t played with little trucks, cars or dolls for many years or perhaps, decades! This was going to be interesting! So down I went creaking and popping to the floor and began roaring the engine of the wee minivan she'd handed me. Honestly it must have sounded somewhere between a backfiring Mac truck and a bewildered grizzly bear woken in mid-winter, but it appeared to satisfy my granddaughter as she smiled approvingly at her dear "Gamma". Let the play begin!
My “girl” was a three inch Disney figurine of Cinderella while my granddaughter’s was Sleeping Beauty. Our props include the aforementioned minivan, two small train engines, a partial train track and one regular sized dump truck. Out of this I must create something called “play” that would entertain a three year old. I must have been triumphant because we'd barely begun act one of the three act play I’d hurriedly conjured up from the rusty recesses of my creative imagination, when two other wee party goers wanted to join our little duo.
Amid screeches of, “That’s mine!”, “I want that one!” and a plaintive, “Gammmmma...” the four of us attempted to sort out toys, while my mind I swiftly restructured our three act play to include two more players. Meanwhile, my ingenious granddaughter left and soon returned with several more Disney “girls” and a couple more vehicles thus, ending the prop distribution dilemma. In the meantime I desperately searched the room for an escape route, finding none; I decided the show must go on!
Although I can’t say any of the actors stayed on point, soon we were all knee deep into the storyline and everything was moving along quite nicely. That is until the frustrated two year old had an artistic fit and suddenly threw his “girl” and vehicle offstage and attempted to snatch my granddaughter’s! Naturally a tussle ensued which totally broke the ambiance of the moment. Creative temperaments can be so difficult to manage.... still with tempers settled down, the show managed to go on; while I continued to plan my getaway.
Aside from several more interruptions by artistic temperments we played... Disney “girls” danced and sang, trucks and trains raced and crashed, wee actors gleefully laughed the laughter of childhood; while “Gamma” lost track of time. Eventually our little group was interrupted by a signal from Grandpa that it was time to depart; silence fell upon our group. “Gamma” had to leave. The show was over. Amidst the “Awwwws” from the children, I heard a stranger speak for me saying, “Already?” “But we’re not done playing....”
awwwwww
ReplyDelete