This is a long, boring story about Pay-doh, so only read on if you TRULY have nothing else to do...
It seems like we've been getting a lot of rain lately, which has kept us indoors a little more than we would like. Luckily, Play-doh has been providing HOURS of enjoyment and fun!
What's fun for me is watching the difference in the way the two girls play with the 'doh.' It used to be that when Lily first began playing with Play-doh, she didn't understand the concept of keeping the colors separate and organized in their appropriate cans. In a foolish attemt to control the chaos, I tried desperately to teach her to keep the colors separated and to keep them in their own color-coordinated cans and lids. I quickly resigned to the reality that she enjoyed playing with gray play-doh (the color that results from mashing ALL the colors together) as much as the bright cheery colors that I tried so hard to maintain.
Now, fast forward a couple of years and two things have changed: 1) Lily is almost 5. 2) Mary is old enough to play with play-doh now.
Lily has discovered that she CAN keep the colors separate and organized in their own cans with their respective lids. She is very much enjoying actually creating things and using the colors together, without arbitrarily mixing them. She's quite diligent and methodical about playing with the colors together, but not putting them TOGETHER. And when she's finished playing, miraculously, she puts all the colors back in the correct cans. (Oh, so satisfying for the parent to watch!)
Enter Mary.
Mary has equally as much fun playing with her Play-doh as Lily does. But, being her mother's daughter, Lily is now trying to get Mary to do what I tried to get HER to do when she was Mary's age. This is very funny to watch, as she tries to explain to Mary, "...you don't mix the purple with the yellow...", with NO success! This is where I step in and tell Lily that Mary doesn't really understand the concept of keeping the colors separate and that it's ok for her to have fun mixing her colors up and making a huge pile of gray play-doh. And repeating. Over and over and over again.
So..., it's a good thing that Play-doh is CHEAP, because every time Lily turns her back, Mary snatches another chunk from Lily's pristinely kept collection and adds it to whatever new mound she's amassing. Of course, a riot ensues and one or both of them end up in tears. And when Lily exclaims her frustration about Mary taking her pink, "and now I can't even get it back because it's not pink anymore" (or purple, or green, or orange, or blue-- this happens A LOT), I respond (YES, every parent eventually uses this phrase), "It's ok. I'll buy you some more."
And naturally (haha), we pick up some new Play-doh at our next Target stop for $1.49 for 4 large cans.
So the whole scenario can begin again. :-)
Lily, working on a masterpiece.
One of the many masterpieces.
And another one.
And another one.
Mary, also working on a masterpiece.
Briefly, still one color....
Mary's final result.
Every time. :-)