Play Blocks, Mama? Play Kitchen, Mama? Color, Mama?

That is ALL I've been hearing lately.  Yesterday it was a nonstop barrage of begging me to play with her, but when we'd settle down to one thing, she'd just jump to the next.  It was rather tiring, and by the afternoon I was over it.  I just wanted to sit in one place and zone out--is that bad?  I ended up getting a bit yelly and she cried and whined for the last hour before Brendan got home.  Bed time could not come soon enough...

But after dinner we all sat down to play blocks together and the look of joy on her face was priceless.  Both Brendan and I would build some ridiculous tower and then she'd get to knock it down.  Ingrid was so excited and would clap and smile.  Then she'd try to build a tower and amaze us by balancing some huge block on a tiny one.  Usually we rush her to the bath and bed right after dinner because A) she's tired, and B)we're ready for alone time.  But last night we just played with blocks and had fun together.  It was so nice.

Today I'm going to try to focus on Ingrid more, really get to her level and play with her instead of just having her near me while I try to vacuum or sweep or do laundry or something.  She's pretty good about playing by herself, but her begging and begging for me to play with her yesterday just showed me that she was needing more one on one time.  Instead of getting irritated, I have to give her what she needs, even if that means playing kitchen twenty different times during the day...I'm going to try to see the positive of her play instead of thinking it's so boring and all the other things I'd rather be doing.  Because, man, just look at this face!  How can you say no???