Play

Kids busy at work is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. The weather is absolutely perfect today- well, at least compared to the cold we've had for weeks now. So of course we had to venture out into the backyard, and the kids picked up their work right where they left off the last time we came out here. 

Carolina and Lenny were very busy raking and hoeing and shoveling at the dirt. Everything was covered with dry leaves and pine needles so their work was cut out for them. Then Carolina had to get started fixing up the toy car, cranking all the levers and knobs and refilling the engine and trunk with all the sticks and gum balls and leaves she could find. 

Lenny meanwhile was satisfied with the landscaping job they'd done and became immersed in some paleontology. Very serious business, indeed. He scoured the dig site for fossils and found all sorts of bones. Teeth and jawbones, petrified into stone, from all types of dinosaurs. He plans on getting them to the museum right away to clean them up and classify them. 

Lenny has quite the set-up sliding the specimens down to the shovel to be collected. 

The way they go about their "work" is so purposeful and direct. There is no wandering around wondering what to do, not like when we are stuck inside with cabin fever. There is no clinging to mama and crying and complaining. They go outside, see a job that needs to be done, and they do it. Play- the work of childhood- is the most important thing they have to do every day.