Pretend Play

"I don't pretend to be captain weird. I just do what I do. "-Johnny Depp

I am having so much fun with Maeve right now.  I love that she is starting to play pretend, just a little.  It puts me into her world, and I see for a little while through her eyes, and I love it.

Pretend was all we did as kids, besides your standard hide-and-seek, or freeze tag, or shooting baskets.  We didn't own a video game console, we weren't allowed that much tv, so it was 3-2-1 Contact or go play outside, and we most often went for the latter.  We had so many alter egos and stuffed animals, I imagine adults would have had a hard time keeping up with who was who.  It was a rich, exciting, and wild world we lived in, my brother, my best friend, and I.

Maeve got a dolly stroller this week, which has caused no end of happiness for her, despite the unhappy facts that it won't roll up the walls and she can't sit in it or climb on it.  But she has given rides to her favorite dollies as well as giant legos and crayons, her other two toy loves in life.  She looks like such a little mommy, importantly pushing her dolls around.

Also it seems some of her stuffed animals have developed a taste for snacks.  She has a Big Bird, an Elmo, and a Cookie Monster whose mouths are open, so they often come to me in need of sustenance.  Big Bird prefers pretzels, and Cookie Monster likes Cheerios, I think because they are round like cookies.  But I can see the look on her face: No, Mom, it's not for me.  Big Bird is hungry.

She cradles them, tickles them, kisses their faces, feeds them, and takes them on walks.  Sounds like a typical day at our house!  But I'm glad she has learned love and affection well enough to pass it on.  And I can be glad she's biting Rainbow Brite's face for a kiss and not mine!

Note that Big Bird is safely strapped in.