Friday, February 27, 2009

Let's Pretend

In the words of Willy Wonka, "...come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination..."

The imagination is a wonderful thing. I think children are just naturally creative and imaginative. No one ever has to teach a child to use his/her imagination. It just happens. I never sat down and explained to Jacob how to be creative or how to pretend or imagine. He learned all on his own or "self" as he would say.

Ever since we moved all Jacob's toys into his room, he doesn't seem to play with them quite as much. He's been discovering other fun things to play with, like a strainer. Yesterday, while I was washing dishes, Jacob went digging through a kitchen cabinet (I forgot to put the child lock back on) and found a strainer. He held it up in the air and said, "Yook Mommy! I playin' tennis ball!" I didn't even know he knew what a tennis racket was. After playing tennis for a while, he switched to baseball and the strainer became a bat. Then he put it on his head and ran around the house yelling, "Oh no! Oh no! Sooooo windy! My hat's fallin' off!!!" I never realized a strainer could be so much fun.


Jacob has also been playing doctor lately. Poor baby monkey has to go to the doctor for ear checks all the time because he gets ear infections. Jacob found one of my headbands and put the ends of it in his ears, wearing it below his chin like a stethoscope. He checks the monkey's ears with pieces of a Thomas train track. After checking him thoroughly, he says, "No problems. No problems, baby monkey. You want a sticker?" It's very funny to watch.

I always hear older people talk about how they only had one or two toys to play with when they were younger. They say kids don't need a lot of toys. They are right. Who needs toys? Jacob is perfectly content playing with a strainer. I am sure a stick would work just fine too...along with a little imagination.

Today, Jacob enjoyed his ravioli...perhaps a little too much. He enjoyed it all the way to the bathtub. After he was finished, he was covered in tomato sauce....and proud of it!





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