Take Care with Black Bolt and Rainbow

Well, I didn't mean to disappear for a week. We just had an uneventful weekend and I didn't have anything to share. Work is busy and it is hard to find time to post. 

But anyways, today, I gathered some pictures from the last couple of months to showcase a cute little game that Kip and Ivy have been playing regularly. It's call "Take Care" or "Black Bolt and Rainbow." 

Now, some back history. As kids, Mandy and I played dolls and house FOR YEARS. We played make believe for far longer than is typical. Like, we were still playing with our dolls in middle school. Anyways, we loved to set-up the playroom in our basement with our play kitchen and make a whole house. We were two sisters living together with two kids...no husbands in sight. We had a car  (really our dad's weight bench). We received telegrams (from the power light in the deep freezer). We cooked meals, we bathed the kids, we drove them to school. We had an upstairs (the top of the guest bed) and we accumulated as much play food and doll clothes that we possible could (but it was never much). We essentially role played what our life is like now (- Dan). And we loved it.

Now, at the end of January, Mandy and I took the kids to Build-a-Bear. They had been once before with Grandma and Aunt Judy but we headed back because Kip decided he needed a bear (his first visit he got a dog). Kip picked a brown bear that was supposed to be part of their Harry Potter line. He named it Black Bolt. Ivy got a rainbow cat she named Kitty Cat Purple Cat. They each picked a few clothes items to add to the accessories they had gotten before with Grandma and Aunt Judy. They immediately began playing with them the exact same way Mandy and I played house. And so naturally, Mandy and I invested! 

Ivy quickly abandoned Kitty Cat Purple Cat and switched to her Rainbow Wolf she got at the Build-a-Bear at Great Wolf Lodge this past summer. Its name is Rainbow. And the rest is history.

Every morning they bring their animals downstairs and make them breakfast. They get them dressed for the day and load them up in the strollers to commute to day care. They pack them lunches and take the "slow ferry." Me or Mandy play the role of the day care provider. And Ivy tends to them throughout the day.

Mandy made them little felt sleeping bags by request and I've dropped more than I'd like to say on clothes for these animals. 

But really we're just serving our inner child who was obsessed with doll clothes and accessories for playing house. Mandy even got them a little play washing machine. Totally unnecessary, but again, Mandy and I would have LOVED a toy washing machine as kids. It's super cute and makes authentic noises!

I think role play and pretend play like this is SO important for little kids. They get to pretend to be in charge and take care of something. They are learning super valuable life skills.

Now, of course, they fight and argue while playing. Often. But, they are playing together instead of next to each other and that has been really important for their bond as siblings.

It's also a really great creative outlet. Coming up with different things to use to make what they need and working together to get to daycare on time!

And now, since I've shared this all with you, they will probably abandon the game tomorrow. But, I hope not because I got Black Bolt a really dapper shirt and Rainbow a pretty dress for Easter.