To the Fisher Price Little People Farm Set

“But Farmer, we can’t go outside today, there’s a storm!”

“It’s ok cows! We will stay in the barn and have a party!”

And he gathers all the squatty pudgy animals: the cow, the horse, chicken and pig into the barn. He carries the farmer to each one and pretends he is feeding them cake. 

Hours and hours on the floor. We honed our narrative skills

 What to call playing for hours, literally several hours, with fat little doe-eyed animals in a fake barn on a coffee table? Is there a word that both says “I hope this never ends” and “I need an adult to talk to”? A phrase that captures the thrill of listening to him make jokes from a two-year old’s point of view AND the simultaneous need to just lie down and shut my eyes for a few minutes? 

I wondered sometimes if there was a camera on me. Just how far does this go? Right now, he’s talking about sending the pig to the moon, but the cow is in the hospital and the chicken is loose in the woods and I have to keep up with all this. Not just keep up, I have to be into it. Respond to it.

Amy Poehler describes some principles of working in improv: always says yes to whatever is happening and make the other person look good. These are also the rules of playing with toddlers. Always say yes. The cow wants to drive the truck: yes. The farmer says Optimus Prime is coming over to play: yes. It’s July and there’s a snowstorm: yes. The pigs want a tea party. Yes, of course they do. Tea for all the pigs!

Keith is better at this game. They are like Aykroyd and Belushi. They crack themselves up and yet keep going. They are the best show in town.

Today, I get to be the pig, opposite my son’s farmer. Tomorrow I get to be the chicken. If it wasn’t for the weirdly shaped animals and you, Fisher Price, I don’t know if I would know what to do with this kid.