Our home has been completely transformed.
The dining room is now an airplane and a car, allowing Penny and Lilly to go on their work trip.
They work on their "computers" (open books) looking for homes for people to buy - that's how they explained it to me.
Their room is their house.
Our master bedroom is the hotel.
The master bathroom has a pocket door so they use that as the elevator, which is exactly what my friend Melody and I used to pretend in her parents master bathroom.
The other day Zach said, "just let them be kids."
It really struck me.
I am so controlling when it comes to keeping an aesthetically pleasing home at all times.
I strongly dislike toys in the living room.
I can't stand when blankets are strewn about.
But then as soon as other kids come over I don't mind that it's a free-for-all.
I need to lighten up and let Penny and Lilly just be kids more often.
It's so fun to see their imaginations soar.
It's hilarious to hear their banter because a lot of it is things they've picked up from Zach and myself.
Penny loves to direct the majority of play, "How about I woke up and you told me you lost the keys."
Lilly is cautious to create her own thoughts of where play should go.
Mainly she says exactly what Penny tells her to.
Sometimes, very rarely, she'll get extremely mad and say things like, "You never let me make anything up!"
So it's a moment of pride today when she responds, "Are they in the garbage can? Are they in the suitcase? Are they in Dorothy's car seat?" instead of saying, "I lost the car keys."
They found the car keys.
Dorothy gets put in the back seat in her car seat.
And they're off.
P "How about I rolled up all the car windows and she's like, "uhhhgghh."
L "Uhhhgghh."
P "And then she says, "I don't want to be in this carseat."
L "I don't want to be in this carseat."
P "Then she wants to unbuckle."
L no response
P "Then I had to chat with the police because they saw there wasn't a driver. I had to explain it's a car that drives itself."
That's good stuff right there!
I follow @runwild.mychild on Instagram and they posted a photo with the caption, "Kids don't remember their best days of television."
It is too true.
As a former child, I don't look back and remember days I sat in front of the tv.
I remember the moments of doing things.
I vividly remember playing frisbee in the street, tennis down at the courts, swimming at City Beach, hiking Big Mountain, camping at the Reservoir, having "yard sales" with my siblings and them never wanting my stuff because it was too juvenile for them, softball in our yard, picking huckleberries, going on drives to Glacier and the Bison Range, reading books in the library where my mom worked, and all the other times I wasn't sitting in front of a tv.
So, what do you say?! Ready to make memories with your little loves that don't involve a tv?!
Cheers to being a memory maker,
Nicole
Share with me your favorite childhood memory [could be yours and/or one you share with your kid(s)] either on Instagram @welcometothedowlers or in the comments here.
