Imagination at Work

Rachel has an extremely creative imagination. I really get a kick out of the games and stories and things that she wants to do. Yesterday, she wanted me to play doll house with her while Bradley was napping. (Santa gave her the Loving Family Doll House by Fisher Price for Christmas.) She told me I could be the daddy and she would be the mommy. The first thing she does is bring in an animal that doesn't belong (scale-wise or product wise) into the dollhouse. Usually, it's a "Littlest Petshop" animal. The animals, one at a time, usually come to the front door and ring the pretend doorbell and want to come in for a birthday party. Usually "mommy" will say some really funny things like, "I'm tired...I'm going to sit down," which really makes me wonder how often I say that since she's repeating it during her playtime! (Scary!) Then, all the members of the house get out of control. Yesterday, both babies and all 4 animals (one at a time) jumped on top of the doll house grill. As daddy, I kept exclaiming, "ouch, get down or you'll burn your feet," which kept the crazy behavior going for several minutes. Rachel giggled the whole time. She loves making the characters do crazy things. And, she LOVES to make them misbehave. She always makes the babies act ugly and talk back to "mommy" and "daddy". It's funny, and I try to measure my words as to how "mommy and daddy" resond to the inappropriate behavior. It's funny how she mimics what she perceives in her role play.

Tonight, she got the idea to play "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears." So, she was Goldilocks and daddy was Papa Bear. She wanted 3 bowls that were 3 different sizes on the table and she came in, ate each one and then "went to sleep" in her/baby bear's bed. She and Nick did this for at least 30 minutes. And, while it seems boring to me, it sure was cute watching her get such a kick out of acting out this story. I can't get over how wonderful her imagination works!

Bradley definitely enjoys watching Rachel and all of her games. He usually observes and sometimes follows her around. Tonight, he found one of my bracelets and walked around with that on while Goldilocks and papa bear were playing. Then, he ended up at the dishwasher where I was loading dirty dishes, and played with the sippy cup valves that were in the silverware basket. I guess he's just too easily distracted and also entertained by less action at his age! :)