After they left to read with Studios Yellow and Red, we resumed play. Here’s what E and L chose to play in the baby area:
E, bringing over chairs: We’re going to make the party all set. These are for the grandmas and grandpas.
S sits down in one of the chairs, and E brings a summer book to her: You can have this book. After taking a look at it, S sees that it is not hers, so she replaces it in the summer book area, retrieves her own, and comes back to her chair to read it.
L walks by the table with her baby and accidentally tips the basket of books off the table. She begins cleaning it up and E notices and the two of them work together to make it right. When they’re done, E retrieves pillows from the reading area to put on the chair seats. S stands up so that E can put one underneath her, which she does. L fixes a cushion that has fallen off.
It is almost time for cleanup, and Diane stops to ask what they are up to.
L: We’re doing this thing because the grandpas and grandmas are coming.
So did you set up chairs?
E: Yeah, these are the chairs.
Where will the grandpas and grandmas sit?
E points to the chairs, one at a time: That’s the grandpa’s, and that’s the grandma’s, and that is the grandma’s, and this is the grandma’s! She moves to the basket of blocks and felt: That’s the candy and these are the books (in the basket). That’s for the grandpa (a book) and this is for the grandma (another book). And these are the lollipops.
Having the seniors over was quite the event, and the addition of Studio Purple made it even more unusual. How cool that E and L processed this event by reenacting it, and embraced S’s presence, too.
We are struck by the cooperative, even gracious, nature of this play – L and E working together to fix up the fallen basket of books; create a nice soft place for the grandmas and grandpas to sit; S standing so that E can place the cushion behind her; E delivering a book to S; and all during this, L is caring for a baby.
