The Games They Play

Yesterday I sat in my living room and listened to the squeals and laughter echoing down the hallway.  My little boys love to play together, and they really do love each other.  I'm finding that the older they get, the more intricate their activities get too.  Sometimes they build amazing railroad tracks throughout the house.  While other days they're pretending to be on an adventure (well, the oldest is pretending and the youngest is doing as he's told.) 

Last night, my oldest informed me that he and his brother had lots of fun playing a new game yesterday.  It was called "light off, light on."  That's when it occurred to me that all the laughing I heard was because of the  light switch!  What a game, huh?  That's when I started thinking about all the "games" I've caught them playing in my house this summer. 

First, there is "brushing our teeth."  It started out with actual tooth brushing, but now, it's more of an excuse for the boys to get into the bathroom sink and get each other wet.  My youngest even discovered how to drink out of the sink.  I hate this game, but they play it at least 2 or 3 times a day.

Next, there's "couch wars."  This game involves removing any pillows or cushions from the couch (sometimes both of my couches) and then having a gigantic pillow fight.  Typically this means that the youngest gets buried under all the cushions while his brother laughs.  Not my favorite game.

Sometimes they play "train tracks."  This involves removing all decorative pillows from my bed and creating railroad tracks in my bedroom.  Then they walk from pillow to pillow.  As much as I try to prevent this from happening, the tracks keep reappearing. 

The most amusing game they play is the "cave of darkness."  Whenever I can't find my throw blankets, that means that they've been commandeered to form walls for their cave.  The end table is the ceiling.  I'm pretty sure we stole this game from a PBS show, but it's actually really cute.

"Give the cat a hug" is a game that cracks me up.  Occasionally, my cats will let the youngest child give them a hug or kiss.  But when the oldest child gets near them, a cat and mouse style chase typically ensues.  The last time my son tried this he came running and screaming into my office because the cat was chasing him! 

For awhile they got really into "keep the cats out."  For this game, they would run into my bedroom and lock the door.  The first time they did it, they locked me out of my room while I was getting ready for my law school final exams.  Fortunately, I can pick a lock.  Of course, when I caught my oldest child successfully picking the lock, I took more aggressive action to prevent him from locking his brother in the room.  I put a child safety handle on my door knob so that they can't lock the door any more.  Now when they play in my room and "keep the cats out" it typically turns into "we locked ourselves in your room" because neither boy has figured out how to work the child proof handle to open the door.
 
Our newest game has been indoor baseball.  Both boys know that we do not throw or kick balls inside our house.  But they find ways to improvise.  The oldest carries his baseball glove around and the youngest carries around a plastic bat.  Then they find a pillow or balloon or some non-ball that they use to pretend to play baseball.  This game is getting more advanced too because I discovered DVD's strewn out across the floor as bases the other day.  And if a major league baseball game is on the TV, my oldest will stand at bat with every player and swing his pretend bat with every pitch.  I keep telling my husband it's time to hook up the wii.

Little boys crack me up.  I always pictured my house with girly things like dollhouses and Barbies.  But I'm adapting pretty well to the world of boys.  I'm learning that sometimes you have to just sit back and enjoy the games they play.  And occasionally, you even have to join them.