Play with me Mommy

I have a new favorite phrase. It's like music to my ears. It makes my heart beat with joy and floods me with all sorts of feel-good endorphins (and it doesn't require a trip to the gym. Bonus? I'd say so.) It is up there with my other favorites including, "Will you be my wife?" and "you're having a girl". What makes this phrase amazing? My newly 2-year-old daughter says it with a light in her eyes and a smile on her face, "Play with me mommy!" It gets me every time.

As a Preschool Teacher I prepare and facilitate a room that is conducive to play. Read: I get paid to play! (I am so blessed.) Play is an essential part of healthy social and emotional and physical development and as parents we are the very first playmates our children have. 

Something as easy as playing (and "playing" encompasses pretty much everything when your'e a child) really is important. Just Google "benefits of play" and numerous articles extolling the virtues of play are all just a click away.

Play is silly, creative, inspired. There is no right or wrong. Life lessons and questions about the world are discovered during play. Gender doesn't dictate play. It is open-ended and continuous. Play is genuine, authentic, personal. And seriously, who doesn't like to play?!

My daughter's been really into playing in the dirt pit that we call the backyard. She digs, throws dirt, pours it on her hair. She rolls in it, crawls in it, runs around like there's ants in her pants (and in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if there actually were ants in there.) To me its an eye sore and something I'm working hard to remedy but to her it's an endless source of discovery and joy. This is where she collects roly polies. Plays with her dinosaurs. Imagines she's rescuing Squacky and CowBella (Pajanimals) from the volcano. Her imagination has no bounds and she blows me away with her exclamations. So, see even the dirt heap out back has play potential!

The thing that tickles me the most when my baby asks me to play is that she is actively seeking out my company. She wants to be around me as much as I love being with her. Talk about a symbiotic relationship at its finest! And though I draw the line at rolling in the dirt there really isn't much I wouldn't do for her and for one of her world-brightening smiles. Well, ok, maybe just a little rolling in the dirt will be fine.

{Now it's time for this Mommy to get playing!}

What's your favorite thing to play with your kiddo?  Please share!

Linking up with Erin.