Keeping a seven-year-old happy.

One of the toughest things about keeping Allison happy is when I’m trying to get caught up on housework, and she is playing by herself.. there is a constant barrage of “look at this!”, “I’m pretending..”, and so on.  It just took me a while to realize that many forms of play don’t count unless she has an audience.  Like the old philosophical question..”if a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound?”.  If Allison pretends she is singing.. it doesn’t work if there is nobody to pretend to hear it.  Understanding that she needs someone to know what she is pretending makes it easier to be patient with all the updates as she plays.