My Connections to Play

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” -Plato.

Growing up, I was an Air Force brat.  With this came many different moves and many different times when I had to make new friends.  I remember when I was younger, I would go door to door when we moved somewhere new, ringing doorbells looking for someone my age to play with.  As I remember back to the places I lived, I remember a lot of outdoor play, and each place I lived seemed to have a theme.  Here are a few of the places I lived and the types of things I did when I lived there for play:

Summer of 1995
I was 9 years old and was in my bathing suit most of the summer
(I'm in the middle)

Fairfax, VA (2^nd-4^th grade) – When it was warm outside, the neighborhood game was kickball!  There were many kids my age and I remember gathering on hot summer days to play kickball.  One winter, there was a snowstorm that blew through and canceled school for a week.  I remember the pile of snow at the end of the cul-de-sac from the plows…it was probably 8-10 feet high and we had a lot of fun climbing it and sliding down.  I also remember sledding down a hill that year.  At the bottom of the hill was a chain link fence, so we padded the fence with lots of blankets and drove our sleds right into it, going as fast as we could. 


Winter of 1996
Sitting on top of the hill with my friends getting ready to slid down for the 53rd time
(I'm in blue with the red ski mask)

Montgomery, AL (5^th grade) – I only lived here a short time, but riding bikes was the neighborhood activity.  Our street was a big hill (the cul-de-sac was at the bottom of the hill) and I remember building ramps out of plywood and cinder blocks and flying down the hill to see how far we could jump on the ramps. 

Charleston SC (6^th-8^th grade) – I was getting a little older at this point, but still loved playing outside.  We used to swim at the neighbor’s house and go look for shark teeth at the end of the neighborhood that hadn’t been built yet.  There was a lot of undeveloped land near the Ashley River and for some reason, there was an abundance of shark teeth in the dirt there.  I stored mine in a blue M&Ms Minis tube. 

Halloween 1994
Halloween was one of my favorite holidays because I got to dress up - one of my favorite passtimes
(I'm in the middle, on the left, in an angel costume)
Sidenote - my brother is the tall one in the back...don't know what he was dressed as...

Some of my favorite indoor activities when I was younger (no matter where I lived) were playing Barbies and dress-up.  I loved my pretend world where I could make up situations and pretend to be someone else. 

I had lots of "modern" barbies, but I also had this one.  My mother passed many of her barbies on to me.  This was one of my favorites because of her sparkley dress

“In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.” –Ovid

I think play has changed a lot since I was a kid.  There is so much more technology now than there was when I was younger, and I feel that so much of play today is based around that.  There seems to be less creative play in pretending and more video games and television.  When I was a child, we only had one TV in the house and we watched it together.  If you didn’t like what the family was watching, you could go play with something else. 

To me, play is essential.  Through play we learn to create, to take turns, and to problem solve.  Play is more than just fun, it is necessary. 

“Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.” -Diane Ackerman

My Relationships

Relationships are my backbone.  As humans, we are not created to be alone.  God created Adam and then decided that man should not be alone, so he created a partner: Eve.  Relationships give us support and stability.  They also give us a system of checks and balances, guiding us through life decisions and tough times.

My God

I am a Christian.  I believe that God sent his son to die for me so that I could have eternal life and live with him in heaven.  My relationship with my God gives me strength and guidance to make wise decisions and is always with me, even when no one else is there.  He gives me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Without him, I’d be a hot mess of emotions and impulsiveness. 

My Husband – James

We have been married for almost 4 years now, and known each other for 7 ½.  He is my brains!  He provides logic and reasoning to this woman’s emotional way of thinking.  He supports me through all my decisions and keeps me in check.  He loves me unconditionally.  He has an incredible work ethic and is very smart.  He knows everything about everything, and can do everything from re-do a kitchen (which I helped with!) to write an emergency plan for an entire county.  His colleagues view him as an invaluable member of their team and he constantly receives praise for his high quality work. 

My Parents - Mom and Dad

My parents instilled a lot of things in me.  They taught me to be a woman of integrity and to love unconditionally.  They were my support system before anyone else.  From my Father, I gained leadership skills.  He has always been a strong leader and set a Godly example for my brother and me.  He has shown me that being a leader means you are fair, consistent, and merciful when appropriate.  From my Mother I gained a nurturing heart; this one of my greatest assets at work (and will be one day when I have children of my own!).  I love the children I work with every day.  One cannot work with babies and not have a nurturing spirit. 

My Brother and his family - Rick, Ashley and Micah

We were never best friends because 1) he is a guy and 2) because we are five years apart.  On the other hand, we have a very good relationship.  He (like my Father) showed me what a man of integrity was.  He (somehow) married someone WAY out of his league and gave me hope of finding a wonderful Christian spouse too!  (Ironically enough, I ended up marrying someone exactly my brother’s age!)  He now has an amazing little boy who I can’t help but talk about (and I have just about every other blog entry).  For those of you who are new to my blog, Micah is 2 ½, adopted, and precious!  He (unfortunately) is just as dorky as his Dad J BUT is just as cute as his Mom.  It has been fun to watch the family evolve from a distance and watch my brother become a husband and father. 

My Co-Teacher - Cindy

My mentor.  Cindy Larsen has been one of the greatest things that has happened to me in the past two years.  Together, we teach 8 babies every day.  She has guided me through lesson plans, provocations, and learning stories.  She is twice my age, so you wouldn’t think we have much in common, but we really do.  We work seamlessly together because of our like-mindedness.  I am SO blessed to have the best co-teacher on the face of the planet.  She makes me a better teacher.

My Babies

My babies are my FAVORITE part of my job!  Since I have started I have had the pleasure of nurturing more than 30 lives in my classroom.  They smile at me, hug me, and laugh with me.  Along with these wonderful kids that grow up WAY too fast, are their parents.  We have such great relationships with the parents that come through our classroom.  I have come to learn that infant parents are SO VERY different from preschool parents.  Our parents see the love and trust that their children have for us and because of that, they love and trust us as well.   They complain less that preschool parents and just generally seem to be in less of a hurry.  Most of the parents that come through our room are first time parents and have MANY questions.  I take pride in being able to answer questions and guide these parents through a scary (but rewarding) time of life.