It must have been a couple of months ago when this started, but Noam has been repeating this mantra over and over again. “Play with me!” The minute he wakes up and gets out of bed. Five bites into any meal. “Play with me!”
Initially he only asked Lior. He sometimes asked me. Sometimes he asked us to put Aviv next to him so he could play with him. And then he discovered Avigail. “Play with me!” he demanded. And amazingly, she did! After lamenting about the lack of sibling play going on in our family, suddenly they are playing together ALL THE TIME. They’re also fighting a lot, but mostly they can keep each other engaged for quite a while. It’s like something clicked and Avigail realized that there is fun to be had with her (sometimes annoying) little brother. They play flying ponies, rocket ships, trains, boats, school.
So now Avigail is Noam’s favorite “Play with me!” target. “Aviagil! Play with me!” he demands. When she’s not interested he’ll often complain and is not interested in the second best option. “I want Avigail to play with me! Not you! Avigail!” (I shouldn’t be surprised though, I’m the last person on Noam’s playing totem pole).
The play must go on.
