My Lucky Kids

 

Growing up, I've never had or seen anyone who has a playroom filled with toys like we do.  I remember I had a tin box smaller than a milk crate and it contained all my toys in there.  I spread out my handkerchief as "carpet" and put my toy furniture on it.  I had fun playing with my basic toys and my ability to extend the play beyond what's in front of me sprouted and grew.  My cousins and I used to play "phone service game" where we wrote a list of phone numbers on a sheet of paper and "called" each other, pretending our favorite cartoon character answered it.  We made up fun stories about what Hello Kitty was doing when the other called her etc... Our imagination was so vivid, I can still remember the color of the vision I had when playing (of course, it's often pink).  My cousin, Sachiko, told me a few years ago how much she enjoyed our little trips to "coffee jello land".  We used to hold hands in line in front of the bathroom sink and closed our eyes to travel to all sorts of places - we could go anywhere that way and it was very exciting.

I was going to write how lucky my kids are to have a playroom filled with their favorite things, but now I wonder if they really are.  Toys for playing restaurant, train sets, a big doll house with three floors, a market stand with display shelves... all things are provided for them.  But children are creature of imagination.  Our children for having their condition play uniquely than others.  They don't play the way the toys are designed for so they say, so in a sense they are using their own mind to explore the world beyond.  One thing our kids are surely good at is not getting bored with their play things.  The cups for stacking would become boats for little play figures, a giant hat, a cracked eggshell, I find them playing happily with them day after day.  So, yes I would say they are lucky - to have a big space to make a mess and let their imagination run wild~!  After all, you are kids only once (or twice if you are a male).