Day 1:
It is Friday afternoon. Both boys (ages 3 years and 6 months) are passed out for their afternoon naps and I am thinking about PLAY. Through a series of recent epiphanies, it has come to my attention that my capacity for play has been deliberately thrown out with the advent of motherhood. It seems counter-intuitive. I spend my days with the most exuberant, playful little beings on the planet, but I have approached motherhood and homemaking like it is a dutiful cross to bear.
I have been watching my boys play and they are experts. My oldest loves trucks and he always has. Before he could talk, I noticed on our neighborhood walks that he would get excited and point to trucks as they drove by, but he would barely glance at a passing car. Now his favorite toys are a big box of trucks in the house, lego duplo trucks to build and a fleet of construction trucks that work in a pile of dirt out back. There is a whole play-world in his mind centered on trucks.
My youngest is just now starting to play and I am watching him choose his favorites. He loves to explore plastic containers, measuring cups and big spoons. If we have our shoes near him, he grabs for the laces, so I made him a little toy out of a shoelace and container lid. I can see that little brain working hard as he teaches himself about the objects around him.
But how do I play? My play started (and continues) at the library, in particular a book called Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown, M.D. In it, Dr. Brown describes eight play personality types:
The Joker (the comedian, clown, prankster)
The Kinesthete (the athlete, dancer, yoga poser)
The Explorer
The Competitor
The Director
The Collector
The Artist/Creator
The Storyteller
"Know Thyself"... play for me is exploration and creation. Travel has always been one of my favorite forms of play, but motherhood has brought its own set of rules and one of those rules is thrift. Yet, even without money or time for travel, I do have a place ten steps away from where I sit that is wide open for play...my kitchen.
This blog is about how I play in the kitchen. It is about how I will try to transform the seeming drudgery of everyday meals into a work of (homespun) art. It is an imperfect account of an imperfect person trying to bring play back into her life. Come play with me...
