I played, “buttons” for nearly an hour today in an ever evolving game whose rules developed along the way. It all started with a cup filled with white buttons of all sizes and a little girl who thrives on competition (her dad might have something to do with that). We went from stacking them, to tossing them into the bowl, to something kind of like dominoes and even if I couldn’t totally keep up with the evolutions, her imagination was hard at work constantly creating and recreating a game that we could play together and which she could win (This last part was important because it was okay for me to win as long as she won too, but not okay if she didn’t also win. For another parent this might be an issue, but for me I like that she wants to win). Watching her create was a joy. It was as if you could see the creative fire of invention dancing in her eyes, the neuro-synapses igniting as a new thought occurred and a new rule was formed out of the way things were progressing or in response to one of my questions. We even had to start over several times because she saw that it could work better in a different way (or maybe because it seemed she wasn’t winning, we’ll never know).