"Oh Wedding, Oh Wedding, How Could You?"

String Cheese is very creative and comes up with so many fun things for the other kids to do. Younger kids love to play with her because she is a very good director. Well, she is good with kids her age, too, but they don't like her telling them what to do quite as much. :) I am very grateful for this because I rarely have to worry about limiting TV time or anything. The kids are always busy playing, "Nickelodeon Cruise Ship", "Enchanted Fairy Land", "Medical Hospital", "Pre-school", "Gymnastics Class", "Beauty Parlor", etc. etc. When I was little I only remember two games: "house" and "boat" (the same as "house" but on two chairs that we had turned into a flotation device). Oh yeah, how could I forget, "hot lava"? And why is it that nobody teaches kids that there is a game called "hot lava"? They just know it. One day they are standing on a chair and it comes to them. "Hey," they will say, "I know! Let's pretend the floor is hot lava! Come on, everybody, let's play 'hot lava'!" Nobody has to suggest it. It is instinct, I think.

One of the most recent games SC invented is called "dance school/opera". String Cheese dresses Deedle in some kind of dance attire and then teaches her various "performances". Deedle is rarely allowed to make a sound, rather she must act out whatever opera SC is singing.

Yesterday we had a little cousin, Madeline, over to play. SC was thrilled to have two students. Luckily they allowed her to tell them what to do, how to act, what to say, what not to say, etc. etc. for several hours. I was painting in a nearby room and found their performances very entertaining. So, I came in with the camera and asked if they might perform for me. String Cheese quickly came up with a new "routine". I don't exactly understand the story line, but found it quite enjoyable.