Let's Just Keep Going!!!!

This is the name of one of Miriam's very favorite games. She and her best friend Bree invented it together oh maybe a couple of months ago. It goes like this. They each pick a toy that can be pulled by a string (this is usually either one of those snoopy dogs you can pull along or a car that has balls inside that pop up whenever you pull it) and stand next to each other. Then they scream at the top of their lungs, "Let's just keep going!!!" and they start to run in circles in our basement play room dragging their toys. They never make it more than a couple laps before at least one of them has to stop because their toy has smashed into some object and gotten tangled around it. They run so fast and fling the toys so hard that they are usually airborne most of the time and often ricocheting off of walls, other toys, occasionally Elijah's various body parts. Whenever they have to stop to re-collect their toy they yell once again and take off. If left to themselves they will play this game for a half hour or more and I am incredibly surprised that nothing has actually been broken yet. Lately Bree's little brother Jesh has started to join in the fun so their are occasional fights over who gets the best toy and we often have to find a piece of string and tie it around something with wheels so that there are enough let's just keep going toys. I try to ban Elijah from the basement when this game is going on, but being the incredible social extrovert that he is he cries piteously if left upstairs. So mostly he just gets sat in a corner with an adult to stand between him and a high likelihood of death or dismemberment.

So probably most people wonder why we allow our children to play this game. To be honest, I wonder that myself most times when I send them down to play and stay upstairs pretending like if I can't see them then I don't have to care what they're doing. But I think the reason they get away with it is the look of such joy and anticipation on their faces when they first pick up the toys and are poised to launch into their first chorus of "Let's Just Keep Going!" That and the bond it creates between Angie (Bree's mom) and I as we cringe and laugh together every time we hear the chorus followed by loud thumping, smashing, and cries of delight.