"Mommy, play with me."

I just started following the 28 Days of Play series http://www.youplustwoparenting.com/category/28-days-of-play/ as seen on the Today show this week.  The focus of the blogs in this series is how parents have trouble playing with their own kids. 

It was such a relief for me to see that I'm not the only crazy parent who can't get into playing with my children.  Don't get me wrong, I do play with them, but I'm always trying to find an excuse to get out of it.  Rylee will ask me to go downstairs to play with her (where most of our toys are) and I just cringe, but I go.  I tell myself, "you can handle 30 minutes", and after what seems to have been 30 minutes, I tell Rylee I have to go back upstairs to (insert chore)....and then I see I was only downstairs for 12 minutes and I feel really bad. 

It's not that I don't like to play with her, but I can't connect with my inner child (do I even have one of those??) and play imaginatively like she does.  I have read numerous articles that recommend letting your child take the lead at play time.  That seems easy enough...until she asks me, "what should we do?"  My first answer to that question (in my head of course) is, "unload the dishwasher" or "put laundry away".  I always go for the easy answers, like "play a board game" or "read some books"....neither of which require me to be creative.  Of course, she always has other ideas...like making pretend muffins or taking her babies to the pretend park, or going to the pretend store.  Eek!  I do what she wants, but it's just motions and I feel silly and worry that she thinks I'm a terrible playmate....which I'm sure never even crosses her mind and I should just have fun with it. 

Whenever Wyatt is napping and Rylee is awake, I do try to make the most of my time with just Rylee and I always offer to play with her.  A lot of times I will suggest an activity first that I don't mind doing so that I can enjoy the time with her.  We will play a game, read books, color, paint, dance, bake, etc.  I also try to play with Wyatt as much as possible when he's awake and Rylee is sleeping so that he has one on one time with me as well.  He's a little easier because he doesn't care what we do. 

I know there will come a day that my kids stop asking me to play with them and I will wish I could have a "do over".  I try to remind myself of that each time Rylee asks me to play with her, but it still never helps me get into character with her.  I will continue to play with her though, and Wyatt too.  I know that no matter how ridiculous I feel, it's the attention I give them that they will remember. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm being summoned to "go downstairs and play".  Wish me luck :)