Bakersfield.com

larger view

I think it is fair to assume that all of us have our "things."  You know, a certain way any given "thing" has to be done.  For me, if I'm being honest, I have several things I have to have just so.  One of those things is Play-Doh.  As a child, I loved Play-Doh but would usually refrain from playing with anyone else's Play-Doh, even at school or church, because the world did not seem to rotate properly on its axis if a foul little child happened to mix the colors. 

Two years ago, I bought Ethan the gigantic tub of Play-Doh at Costco.  Something like twenty different colors.  It was so many colors they included not just red, but dark red and brick red as well.  Ethan was only two at the time.  I showed him how we can do our very best to not mix the colors.  Even by scraping off the tiny dried crumbs before we play each time.  I also showed him how it's just better to play with one color at a time.  You know, resist temptation. 

For good reason, he never seemed to enjoy himself under mommy's regime.  Well, there was that one time during our bout of potty training where he seemed overly excited after I showed him how to roll the Play-Doh.  I found him at the table holding two rolled out pieces of dough, which he referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Turd.  He actually imprinted facial features on them.  The happy couple was always smiling.  Ethan was potty trained shortly thereafter. 

But, other than that incident, he's never really asked for the Play-Doh set to come back out until recently.  Figuring he was a big enough boy to play unsupervised, I found to my great horror a half hour later that he had mixed all the colors to a dull brown.  Before I got any grey hairs over it, I remembered that fostering his imagination is my most important role and my obsessiveness on matters of Play-Doh did not need to be re-introduced when he was having so much fun.  I ground my teeth, I tapped my feet insistently, and I even sweated a bit.  But, I said nothing. 

After all, Ethan already has his own "things."  That one is pretty obvious by the straight row of stuffed animals laying head to foot margining his bed at all times.