Creative play

Dress up in Mom's boots

I am endlessly amazed at the creativity children express when they play. Although this will probably sound like I'm bragging about Lydia, I really am speaking of children this age as a whole. The ideas they have, the way they view the world -- it's priceless.

Some of the games Lydia creates lately are down right ridiculous, while others make me stop and wonder, "why didn't I think of that?" She is very good at entertaining herself lately, although she still seems to prefer it when I play with her. I am trying to cherish that fact (even when, at times, I feel too busy for yet another trip to the pretend doctor/dentist/grocery store/library etc.) I fear that all too soon she'll prefer the company of friends over her mom, so I am extremely grateful for these times.

The other day she took her little IKEA table and covered it with various hot pads and pot holders. She then proceeded to bang on the hot pads and told me she was playing the "bone drums." It took a while before I finally deciphered (at least I think I deciphered) what she really meant. Bongo drums. And you know what? The hot pads on the table sounded a little like bongo drums. It kept us both entertained for quite a while.

Playing the "bone drums"

Lydia is also really into imaginary friends lately. There is hardly an activity that we do during the day that doesn't include at least one of them. "Kathy" seems to be the favorite. I've done some reading on imaginary friends and found it is actually quite healthy to have them (I was wondering for a minute... although I have very vivid memories of my own imaginary friends as a child.) At any rate, it is adorable to see her include them in whatever she is doing at the time. The other day she was even miming holding hands with "Kathy" as she walked down the hall to nap time. Sweet.