Imagination Station

Since we don't have school until the afternoon, and LBD naps twice still, we are homebound most mornings. While we all tend to go stir crazy a lot of the time, it has resulted in one generally positive outcome: our apartment is home to the Imagination Station many mornings. C and D spend the time concocting elaborate scenarios. Some of their favorites include:

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Airport: Their favorite. Maybe it is because A travels all they time, but D and C are obsessed with the idea of travel, and the airport in particular. They love to pack up their bags and talk about where they are going. They often pretend that they living room is the airplane and they sit quietly on the couch and flip through a book or just talk to each other. But their absolute favorite part of the airport is security. They love to "security" each other (run a fake wand up and down each other' bodies. The other day I got about 30 minutes of freedom while Lila slept and they "went to San Diego." But i paid the price. I came out and the playroom was a total disaster. They had taken all the buckets off the shelves and filled them with random stuff. When I pointed out the mess they responded "But Mom, we needed to put everything through the security machine!!"

Ballet Class: This involves a lot of "twirling," some funky outfits, some odd song renditions, and sometimes some "ballet jumping" from couch to ottoman and back again until mom gets mad. I think they actually like taking pictures of themselves as ballerinas more than the actual dancing.

Pirate Ship: Somebody (read:me) stupidly taught them about walking the plank. There is a lot of plank walking, some ship sailing, and then some really random things that have nothing to do with pirates. (That same idiot told them all about playing 'cops' with her brother Mikie and now they want Mikie to get them police "handpuffs" for Xmas--and no, I have no intention of correcting the pronunciation). (Cap'n D in her skeleton pjs)

Oski Basketball: Try as I might, this is not "Cardinal Basketball." One person is the player, one person is the band, one person is the cheerleader, and Lila is the 'crawler.' The band can't play and the cheerleader can't cheer until the "basketballer" scores. Luckily the basketballer likes to stand on a chair at the free throw line, which for some reason improves performance.

Birthday Party: This involves wrapping things up (the joy here is in the tape and the scissors), putting together treat bags for "the children" as D calls them, putting together a cake, and singing happy birthday. The only problem is it often ends with them demanding I mail the 'presents' to said person, in which case I have to hide the things for a few weeks until they forget that they were intended for others.

Football: To call it football is a little aggressive. It usually degenerates to "tackle me" and "chase" pretty quickly, but it does start with some hut hut hiking.

Swimming. My favorite. This involves a lot of 'swimming' across the house. Different stroker are employed. They are different people--Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Cousin Ainsley. Sometimes they wear goggles, sometimes glasses, sometimes they wear rainboots (not always on the right feet though). Always swimsuits. The other morning I was playing with LBD when I hear: "Mom, you need to move, you're in the middle of the pool and the race is starting!" I turned around to find this...