creative caving

There is something magical about having your own little cave to hide away in when you're small. In a traditional house, there's the under the table blanket fort, or the swanky wooden playstands, the over the top play tents. But none of those work afloat. Never daunted, my boy finds a way. His love for knot tying combined with our large supply of blankets, quilts, and play silks means that a fort , cave, or tent is always possible.

I love watching his industrious nature as he creates his own space, and I love watching him pack up his special stuff to move into that space. Books, flashlight, pillows, dolls, and random bits of rock and shell seem to always make their way into the forts.

Each time it's a different creation held together with string and clips and belts and rubber bands and will power. He stays there as the sky darkens. He asks for his dinner and toothbrush in the fort. Sometimes talking endlessly to himself, sometimes uncharacteristic quiet.

Often undone by the wind, or a cranky mama who would really like to get the groceries in the boat, or the wake of a dinghy speeding by. Blankets are folded away, silks are put into their baggie, pillows go back on the bed, bits of string go back into the myterious crevices from which they came. But never for long.

We don't have a playroom. The whole boat is our playroom, and of course the great outdoors. We don't have an expensive playstand or a pop up castle. But truly, does it look like we need it? All that's needed is the freedom to let their little imaginations go wild.