Isla- “Asher, did you have fun at your birthday party?”
Asher, smiling- “yeah.”
Isla- “Is it because me and Miki [our 6 yr old neighbor] opened all of your presents for you?”
Asher, smiling huge- “yeah!!!”
And to think I had been stressing over how to mediate the gift-opening situation….
Isla- “Asher, let’s play Exchange!”
Asher- “yeah”
Isla- “Asher, you’re my kid, ok?”
Asher- “yeah”
Isla- “Hey, 2 yr old, I’m going to buy you this!” as she plops a hat on Asher’s head.
Asher- “Thank you, Isla!”
If it’s true that children use play to process their experiences, I need to take a hard look at how I’m talking to these kids! On the other hand, Isla might be using play to process her own creativity… Because I’m sure I’ve never called Asher “2 yr old.” 🙂
Ok, so the video clip below is a typical exchange between Isla and Asher, with 1 major exception. Isla kept her cool and used kind words to talk to Asher in the middle of crisis (by a preschooler’s standard for crisis, that is). For that, I decided to share this otherwise, dare I say it, dull, video.
Keeping up with the Rosses 
All that talking with them is/will pay off.
All that hard work is paying off! Friends forever.