We had another day like this today.

We rearranged the furniture yesterday. I do that maybe once a month or so, and it always results in a two- or three-day burst of sustained pretend play. I guess turning the play kitchen to face left instead of right reignites the imaginative possibility of the space? I don’t really understand it, but I accept it, and I rearrange the furniture accordingly.

There was a time when I felt strongly about keeping the living room free of permanent kid stuff, but until we have way the heck more space, I have given up on that notion. I have also, it seems, given up on ever using the room for hanging out with grown-ups, so that works out just fine. (Oh, people come over to hang out in our living room all the time, they just also bring their kids. And those kids are no longer all babies. They expect to play with stuff.)

Anyhow, all the play today wore the older kids out. They were restaurateurs! They were naturalists, and needed to hunt for spiders to study! They were detectives, taking notes in spiral-bound notebooks! They were a mommy and a daddy and had to take care of baby Audrey and Sadie! (Somehow they never play anything that involves putting away laundry.) They both crashed early.

And then we spent three hours getting the little girls to sleep. Apparently play is only exhausting if you’re over the age of three. Otherwise it keeps you up until ten o’clock at night.

Also important to note: if the tired-but-not-sleeping toddler demands a goat—as in: I want mine goat! Mine own goat!—do not run all over the house trying to figure out which toy is a goat. She wants her quilt.

That’s probably only important for me to note, but I figured I’d throw it out there just in case.