I have an Idea

"I have an idea!" This phrase rings out about a hundred times a day in my house.

Sometimes it comes from Maya. She says the words thoughtfully and hopefully.

"I have an idea. Let's pretend we are dinosaurs, and we have to save a lost dinosaur in the woods." For the next few minutes, the girls stomp around the ottoman roaring and crooking their arms up like a t-rex, looking for a hidden stuffed animal... or me.

The t-rex occasionally charges me!

Often the phrase is shouted by Elliot, who punctuates word idea with gusto: I-DEE-YA!

For the next few minutes, Maya tries patiently to coax the announced idea out of Elliot. She crouches down, leans directly into Elliot's face, and says, "Is your idea that we should have a snack?" or "Is your idea that we should play vet and you are a kitty?"

Maya doctoring the sick kitty, inspired by Anakin's latest troubles.

Elliot answers "yes" to whatever Maya suggests, and after a bit, Maya picks her favorite option and leads Elliot off to play restaurant in the kitchen, or road trip with the cardboard car we made.

Clearly some people just don't take their restaurant preparations seriously enough.

They have begun playing together in a whole new, much more involved way, and it's spectacular to join them.