Imagination

"Imaginative play is a precursor of conceptual thought – in which possibilities are explored upon the inner 'stage' of a child's imagination." – Erik Erikson

I guess Danielle is at the age where imaginary play is important. Several articles I read and also Parenting magazine tell me that it is good to pretend. It even made it into the what to expect the toddler years book so I guess it is normal. All that reading has made it easier for me to tolerate the constant stream of noise that is associated with imaginary play. Danielle seems capable of speaking about 95 percent of the time that she is awake. You just have to know if she is talking to you or talking for one of the my little ponies or lizard. Sometimes she asks us to leave her alone so she can go play. She yells "don't come" and then goes into the basement with her tea set. A few days ago she decided that she wanted to be a princess and wear her bug pajama pants all day.

Not one to stifle creativity, especially when the process involves less work for me, I let her wear those bug pants for two days straight. Maybe she will let me replace them with bug dress- people don't like toddlers who are wearing bug pants.

Thinking about imaginary play makes me realize that I still do this important developmental skill. I regularly try to have imaginary play. Just the other day I imagined that my house was really clean and organized. John likes the idea of having pink walls in my imaginary play, and we have a tiled back splash in our kitchen with granite counter tops and hardwood floors. For three hours I tried to imagine it. The house still didn't get clean though so I clearly need to work on the imagining more. I'm not sure but I think I wasn't pregnant in my imagining- would you be pregnant for imaginary play? I hope not. Danielle was coloring quietly at her table and I was rocking in my green chair that I love. Can you covet something you already own?

Now if only I could get Danielle to let me have a chance with that great hat.