The Playroom

Some people say there are two certainties in life:  death and taxes.  I would have to add two more to those:  purple grapes and Dora.  Every afternoon when Justin or myself pick up Hadley from school (technically daycare, but we call it school so she feels big), the first request she has in the car is for "pupple gwapes" and "Do-wah."  And where she eats those grapes and watches Dora is a sacred place for Hadley. 

When she enters the house every afternoon, she goes straight to the television in her playroom, turns it on, picks out whichever DVD she is wanting to watch (most likely Dora), puts it in, and pushes play on the DVD player.  All by herself!  She has just learned how to push play in the last couple of weeks.  I will admit that I purposely did not show her how to push play until recently because I loved getting to help her and just make her day by pushing "play."  I do miss her yelling, "Push pway Mommy or Daddy."  Yet another milestone. 

On a side note, she is also excellent at taking the DVD's out when she is finished watching one (or grows bored) and putting them back in their exact case.  It is a little obsessive compulsive; the fact that she never ever puts one back incorrectly.  But I secretly love this "neat" fact about my girly:) 

At this point, she settles in to her plush Dora chair, and patiently waits for us to bring her her bowl of grapes.  

After watching a little TV and having her snack, she starts to explore what she wants to play with.  Some of her favorites are her tea set, coloring books, dress-up basket, puzzles, kitchen, Elefun game, golf set, and baby dolls.  She loves for us to do any or all of these activities with her, of course.  She can literally stay in her playroom for hours when she's really in her groove.

Sometimes after putting on her dress-up heels, Vera Bradley purse, tiara, and boa we will ask her where she is going.  She will say, "Going to town."  When we ask what she'll be doing in town, she says either, "Get gas" or "Going to Wal-Mart."  Adorable; Sam Walton would be so proud.

She has recently discovered an old Guess Who game and thinks she is really playing it.  We have modified the game to meet her needs (true teacher lingo) by simply trying to locate the person on the card.  It's unreal how good she is at identifying the characters; she's so proud of herself when she succeeds.   

    We also display her artwork from school in here.  I absolutely love seeing the precious things they make at her school.  I especially love the pieces with her hand and foot prints on them.  I haven't been able to throw any of those away.  So sweet!

Our playroom is very girly right now, as it should be.  The baby doll stroller and high chair, pink grocery cart, ironing board set, and baby dolls will soon join plenty of boy toys.  We are so looking forward to that new adventure!  By the end of the night, you can bet your bottom dollar that it looks like a tornado has hit  the playroom.   But you can also bet that Hadley had the time of her life in the meantime.  And putting those toys away every single night makes that all unbelievably worthwhile.