This week I bought Rosie some little nesting blocks similar to the ones that Rosie has been admiring at Lucy's house. Rosie loves it when I build a tower with the blocks... a tower that she gets to knock over. She says, "DOWN," and then pushes the whole thing to the ground. Rosie and I thought that our little game was VERY fun... that is, until, Rosie got a taste of Ron's version of the same game.
I was cooking dinner tonight and heard Ron and Rosie building the tower, and then knocking it down. I heard Ron mention something about using the "bus" to knock it down and heard Rosie squeal with delight. I just had to see what all of the commotion was all about. I was shocked to find Ron teaching Rosie to crash the Wee Bus full of Wee People into the blocks! Those poor Wee People... on their way to Wee Work and Wee School. They never knew what hit them. It was Wee Chaos. It never occurred to me, during the week, to crash the Wee Bus into our block structure.... let alone a bus full of Wee innocent people.
It got me thinking about the way that I play with Rosie verses the way that Ron plays with her. I got to thinking about nature verses nurture.. and the Sociologist in me probably took it way too far. Rosie and I rough house and chase... but nothing like the way she and Ron rough house and chase. When Rosie and I rough house and chase, she laughs... when she and Ron rough house and chase... she LAUGHS and screams... mostly out of sheer terror.
I know that part of this comes from growing up with 1 sister verses 4 brothers. I know that part of it has to do with gender. I was challenged, none-the less, to play differently. Let me be clear that I don't plan on committing any Wee Massacres on any Wee Communities like my dearest husband. But, I DO plan on learning to play with a sense of adventure.... even if it gets noisy and chaotic.
