Rocket Scientist

I am.  I have stolen this entire idea from another blog.  Ironically enough it was “I Steal Ideas from Other Blogs so you don’t have to ” from the hilarious “I Do Things ” blog.  And what am I stealing (other than the notion of stealing an idea from another blog)?  My comment.

Yes, I admit it.  I cracked myself up and I wanted to share the wealth.

The subject was a cat that turned up its nose at the expensive cat toys to play bits of flotsam and junk around the house.  Identification of one of these improvised cat toys was the plan, but my guess had already been taken.  So I tried to be clever (note: I have expanded the original):

“We have solved our expensive cat toy issue by having children as well.”

My daughter (9 mo) loves to play with the cat toys.  She also likes the ever prevalent catalogs we get by the dozen this time of year and envelopes that have a crinkly plastic panel in them.

My cats love to play with the baby toys.  And feet.  I’m not sure I understand that last one.

My son (5 years) loves to play with gift tissue, boxes, paper plates and that bath foam, most of which he chews up and throws in the air. And then the cats play with it.  If he goes outside, he will ignore his many large toys to pick up mulch, grass or dirt which he’ll either make into a pile or, again, throw it up directly into the air.  He also loves blankets and pillows and will drag them all over the house.

My other daughter (14 years) doesn’t play any more. “God, mom, what’s wrong with you?” She does, of course, require many expensive electronics that she destroys with neglect, but, since I’m a meanie, she has to make do with her destroyed electronics, like her laptop that’s missing three keys and the MP3 player she left in the Houston sun.     She also writes with sharpie on her bedroom walls, jeans and skin.

Side note:  Interesting fact for those interested in purchasing an MP3 player. Not only did my daughter’s continue to work unabated, but the Sansa MP3 player will keep working after going through the washer/dryer cycles on two separate occasions - though that was the hubby. Both were Sandisk Sansa’s.

My husband plays with everything including everyone else’s toys, the cats, the kids, several game consoles, his computer and several times his weight in Legos(TM).

See, one of the advantages to having married someone younger than I am who appreciates play is that I now recognize how important it is.  Since I have little or no recollection of play myself (just books and make believe), I could have readily stifled my children all unknowingle.  Thanks to Lee, well, I didn’t have to.  And sometimes, I even play myself.

I still remember him telling me, when my eldest was 8, “Your daughter and I need waterguns.”  I askd “Need?”  “Yes, he insisted.  Need.  Both of us.”  He was right.

When I’m not amusing myself, perhaps more than I had a right to.

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