Laughter.

The kids are skilled in their play. In their imagination. In the seriousness of their land of pretend. Last night we sat around the dinner table and chatted as we ate. I asked about school, about reading, about play in the afternoon. The kind, patient and sweet neighbor girl and fellow-carpooler met my kids' dreams and came over to play with them for a little bit. A big third grade girl who lets my kids dictate the game with a delightful "sure!" and joins in. What did you play? I asked. House, Parker responds. Oh? I say? "Yup. And I was the dad and Natalie was the mom and Evie was the baby. And I helped Natalie give birth to Evie. We made her lay down to do it. It went pretty well." And then, I nearly choked on my food. What did that look like? I asked (calmly. so, so calmly.) "Oh, you know. It's a lot of work. She had to lay down and get the baby out and I helped her. I told her to go to sleep and then I pinched her tummy and there was Evie! Like magic! It was beautiful." Oh, my stars. Good grief. I think that went ok? Even though it is ever so slightly off base? I heard from Natalie's parents that they had a very similar conversation over their dinner but it ended with Natalie proclaiming "I was NOT going to tell them the real way!"

And then there was tonight. The kids wanted to help Grandma and I get fixed up. They became doctors. They found some tape. Apparently tape fixes all ailments. They taped our eyes shut. Then when we protested they taped our mouths shut. Eventually they were saying things like "Stop breathing! That's it! Now you get the pinch!" and then they would pinch our toes really hard. Just like normal doctors? They eventually moved on and ripped the tape off and massaged our backs. Evie fixed my hair with a backscratcher at the same time. We were very confused. And we couldn't stop laughing. My mom kept looking at me and whispering "Just go with it! I think it's a part of the treatment" and turning to the kids and asking "Is this included? Does this cost extra?" Oh, the laughter. Over and over.