Living in Drawings: I'll be the giant monster crossing the road and you be the police and stop all the cars.

September 26, 2016

I'll be the giant monster crossing the road and you be the police and stop all the cars.

This is about me and Gabriel. We play a lot of games - designed by Gabriel, which are based around the books we are reading, films we are watching, and things that happen on our journeys.

For example, on Saturday, we were driving through town trying really hard to go somewhere, using our satnav, and there were roads blocked off by the police all over the place, with the usual cacophony of hooting shouting arm waving etc, AND then the doube challenge of finding alternative routes in a city like Palermo where literally all roads are one ways!
These road blocks made a huge impact on the little game maker, and so now, a lot of stories are being made about police stopping cars! Characters get brought in from all and sundry, right now Roald Dhal's BFG is the one crossing the road and ordering the police around!
and then of course, sound effects.. we have various songs which get sung to add emotional charge and seriousness to the situation, eg 'We need to call Paw Patrol!" followed by a serious rendering of the Paw Patrol theme song, quickly followed by the Spiderman song.

So the drawing is about our play. I remember really loving reading Winnicot on play and about how play is the work of children, and to enter into play fully is to be fully present and connected with a child. What a privelage. Of course, play extends to adulthood, look at theater, sport, board games, ART! the list is endless.. Play is one of the things that keeps us present and in the moment. It's vital.

“It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.” D. Winnicott

Me and Gabriel play a LOT. luckily.. It is something we have that is free and ours. So although it is intangible, it's not a family photo or a family relic or something to hold in your hands and look at and reminisce over, we are making memories that are priceless and can't be lost or locked away.
We have them, no matter what! We are alive, and we are growing!

and now, some pics from recently:

A little autumn Saturday afternoon trip to the beach, nice and warm [a heat wave by British standards!] but no swimming. And thankfully no mozzies for a change!!

We are friends mommy, we are friends - Gabriel often says that to me now.

He got it from me actually. Sometimes when I get a bit cross with him for something but I dont want it to linger or become a bad mood, I just say we are friends Gabriel, we are friends, lets go! and smile. He likes that, and it works, so now he says it too! I think we both find it comforting and its pretty cool too. Enjoying it while I can, before teenager-dom sets in and then who knows!