Playing Pretend
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| Wonder Fuels Imagination |
For not yet one & a half, she has a strong sense of how pretend play works.
She has shown me her sense of imagination through her dollies for some time; hugging them if they 'fall' (she throws them on the ground and imitates a cry), nursing them and her latest, scratching their bums (because that is how Daddy helps her go to sleep!)
Today as O and I were running errands, I was feeling ever the crappy mother. How could I waste a morning of play, trying to mail letters and buy groceries? I was just as bored as she was!
As we waited in line at the Post Office, I offered her 'apple juice' and 'cake' from the counter. Without pausing, she grabbed the air (read: apple juice) and drank it up! There was nothing in my hands, but she got it! We both smiled and thus a new game began!
Stop B, the grocery store, O took it upon herself to find pictures of food and offered nibbles to me! She was thrilled that I understood! As she encouraged me to gulp my 100th Preserved Duck Egg (yes, we live in China) I reminded myself not to rush her, since she had waited so patiently for me through my bore of chores.
By this evening at home, she could grasp that she didn't even need to see a picture of food to imagine that it was there; she was offering 'juice' and 'cake' from the 'shelf' over the bed! Lovely!
It is the seemingly simple games that really max out their mileage and provide connection in the chaos of an otherwise run-of-the-mill day.