The hardest part of kindergarten so far is the schedule. Piper complains that all that school stuff cuts into her play time. Recess is never long enough either. So she sneaks in moments of play wherever she can.

There are horse figurines and rocks scattered on the bathroom vanity where Piper played while brushing her teeth. She kneels by her bedside and plays with her stuffed animals while I braid her hair. Toys aren’t allowed at the breakslowfast table, but Piper likes to make her vitamins talk to each other. “It’s time to leave for school!” is always met with “But I was playing!” You can’t watch screens in our house before school either (I’m a real meanie, aren’t I?) so My Little Ponies and Luke Skywalker help Piper put on her shoes. There are also her imaginary friends and the voices in her head to contend with, too.

Bath time and/or her shower necessitates an entire bowl full of plastic jungle animals. The bowl serves as a floating raft in case there is a flood. There is often a flood. Whenever Piper climbs into her booster seat in the car, she first has to remove an army of toys that she left there from the last play session. When reading, Piper has to have representative “guys” to act out the story that’s happening on the page. It takes us a long time to get through a page.

So Saturday morning when Piper wakes up at the crack of dawn and asks “Can I play?” I get to say yes and go back to sleep.