let's pretend

One of the things I have enjoyed the most about Miriam as she is getting older is her ability to play "pretend." She has such an imagination and comes up with the most creative ways to play with the most random "toys." Sometimes it's a paper cup with a few marbles and a pencil to stir that suddenly turns into a bowl of soup that she's mixing up. Or, it's a blanket and some Bingo chips (that I'm not even sure where we got from) that is a garden of vegetables. And then there's all the stuffed animals that turn into babies and need to be fed, changed and rocked constantly.

Here's an example from last week... I was busy cooking dinner and quite pleased that Miriam was entertaining herself, even though I wasn't quite sure what she was doing. Then I looked at the table and here is what I saw:

And everything had a purpose! Her stool was a changing table and she was changing diapers on her bears. I believe the spray bottle was used to wipe them and the blankie was used to wrap them up. She used the little tupperware container to fill up with water (I'm not sure what that was for... I just saw her carry it over to a cupboard, pretend to turn a sink on and bring it back to the table). Clearly, this little girl is ready to be a big sister! She's going to be a great helper. In the mean time, I will continue enjoying these little moments of "pretend" -whatever she comes up with to use next time.