Play Time

My favorite memories from playing as a child always involve being with someone else. I remember somersault races with my sisters, Katie and Judy. I played Frisbee with my dad and checkers with my mom a lot. Once I got a bit older, I was attached at the hip with Cliff, playing G.I. Joe and any sport we could figure out. That's why I was so excited when I found out Rach and I were having twins. She was nervous, but I knew that those two would forge some of the best memories of their childhood with their "instant best friend."

Micah and Malorie have definitely created a fun bond with one another lately. They are at an age now where they are acutely aware of what is going on around them and of each other, and so that makes for some fun interaction. Every once in a while Rachel or I will just leave the two of them together on the carpet to see what happens. Today we watched from the kitchen as they sat side by side, grabbed books and then proceeded to try to read to each other. One would make some sort of ridiculous noise and then turn a page, followed by the other one doing the same. They even smile like one another now, both scrunching their noses and grinning like they smell something rotten and like it.

They do spend some time playing by themselves or with mom and dad, though. My favorite game to play with Micah is basketball on his baby hoop. He crawls over to a ball, picks it up and then brings it over and places it in the hoop. Once he drops it we begin clapping, and then he rebounds the ball and does it again. Occasionally, when he tires of this, he will pass the ball to me and watch as I make a few slam dunks, still clapping all the while. With his mom Micah enjoys a game in which she stands up holding him against her chest, and then drops his head over backwards. He laughs uncontrollably until she pulls him back right side up, and then he tosses his head back to do it again.

As for Mal, she and I play a game I like to call "No." Malorie only knows how to shake her head in the horizontal direction, as if to say no. So, no matter what question you ask her, she will respond with "no." I play the game by asking her proceeding ludicrous questions for a nine-month-old baby to handle, and allow her to answer them the only way she knows how. It usually starts out with something like, "Mal, do you want another bite of cereal?" She will smile and shake her head no, even though I know she does want one. Then I will get a bit tougher. "Mal, if a boy asks you to go to Lookout Mountain and kiss him, what do you say?" Mal grins and shakes no. "What if a cool girl tries to get you to smoke a cigarette with her, will you do it?" Mal grins and shakes no. We proceed like this until I have exhausted all my peer pressure, dating, and college calculus questions and then I let her stop and eat in peace.

Mal and her mom have a great time together too. Rachel likes to break out all the stuffed animals and prop them up on top of a bucket. Mal watches intently until mom finishes, and then knocks all the animals off the bucket and laughs. Usually though, you can't separate Micah from Mal for long, and he busts in and joins in on the fun. I caught this video tonight as the two of them wrestled around next to mom and Tyson. It is exactly the kind of memories I want my kids to have when they get older and reminisce like me.