Happy Boy and Sassy Girl are best friends. They have been since the day they met. When Mommy and Daddy brought Sassy Girl home from the hospital, Happy Boy couldn’t stop talking about her—in his unintelligible, 1 1/2-year-old way. Of course, she couldn’t do much at that age. Happy Boy could hardly wait until she was big enough to play.
And now she is.
“Where is Happy Boy?” Sassy Girl asks when she wakes up in the morning.
“Downstairs playing,” Mommy answers.
“Hold my hand,” Sassy Girl demands sassily, and they walk down to the living room.
Most of the time, one child likes to do what the other is doing. If Sassy Girl puts on a superhero cape and mask, Happy Boy does the same. They fly around the room as fast as they can, looking for citizens to save and villains to fight. If Happy Boy picks up a sword and shield, he hands the second pair to Sassy Girl and the two of them run off to fight a dragon. Seeing Mommy on the couch, they stop, with swords drawn, and demand, “Halt! Who goes there?”
Happy Boy likes to decide what they build with blocks. He is happiest when he can build according to plan. “No, Sassy Girl,” he says, stopping her from adding the wrong blocks to his creation. “Helicopters don’t have wings, they have propellers.”
He is unhappy when Sassy Girl takes his blocks to build her own thing. Sassy Girl doesn’t care if Happy Boy bosses her around, as long as he doesn’t take blocks out of her hands—which he does too often. Mommy has to step in to teach them about sharing, to tell them not to take toys from each other, and to restore their friendship.
Sassy Girl follows Happy Boy’s lead as they dance to music, and Happy Boy follows her lead as they sing along to their favorite songs. Then, they drag the dining room chairs into the living room to build a blanket fort, a train, a rocket ship, or a plane. Happy Boy is a happy teacher of using the imagination.
At the dinner table, Happy Boy and Sassy Girl break up the boredom by teasing each other, singing songs together, and making each other laugh.
“I want peanut butter,” Happy Boy states.
“No, chicken!” Sassy Girl responds.
“No, carrots!” Happy Boy answers back.
“No, blankets!”
“No, books!”
“No, elephants!”
“No, the living room!”
“No, the couch!”
They laugh and laugh at their own cleverness, and Mommy and Daddy laugh at their cuteness. Happy Boy and Sassy Girl are happy when they make Mommy and Daddy laugh. The Baby coos and giggles along.
“May I have your cookie, Sassy Girl?” Happy Boy asks. “Say ‘yes.’”
“Yes,” Sassy Girl answers obediently. Mommy has to intervene.
At the end of a full day of playing, learning, and enjoying their favorite shows together, Sassy Girl falls asleep on the couch. Not ready to stop playing, Happy Boy tries to shake her awake. Mommy scoops Sassy Girl up to carry her to bed.
“Sassy Girl needs to play!” Happy Boy protests.
“Tomorrow,” Mommy replies—tired, but happy to see the love between her children. “She will play with you tomorrow.”
