pretend

Lately Eden has really been developing her imagination. Her long-time favorite (something she has been doing for several months now) is acting like a baby. She'll ask Ashley or me to hold her like a baby. Once we cradle her head in one elbow and dangle her feet over the other, she starts pretending to cry. We can calm her by saying "Shhh. It's okay, baby. Don't cry." Now, she does the same thing with her dolls.

Though baby is still a go-to game, her recent favorite is one she invented called Dog. How do you play? Well, you get a ball and either you or Eden throws it and says, "Fetch!" The other one gets on all fours, sticks his/her tongue out, pants, and runs after the ball. Then, the dog picks up the ball and brings it back to the owner. When the dog does it right, the dog gets praise and petting - sometimes the dog even gets scratched behind the ear (which causes the dog's leg to twitch). When the dog {i.e. Eden's Daddy} is acting extra-playful, the owner will have to chase him/it around the house (which causes the owner to laugh hysterically).

Another new favorite is playing the big bad wolf. This game has two different versions: 1) someone is the Big Bad Wolf {usually Eden} who then blows everyone else down, you can get quite a work out being blown down and getting back up a lot, 2) Eden starts to act scared and says that the Big Bad Wolf is somewhere in the vicinity, then we look for him or talk about how he went back to the pig's house. Last night, Eden and I went on an "adventure" in the backyard looking for the Big Bad Wolf while Ashley cleaned up the house.

When she is not throwing or fetching a ball, she likes to go shopping.  The other morning, she announced she was going to the store after packing her purse, getting her wallet, and putting on the race hat from the Tour de France. Upon her "return" she announced that she had brought back chicken and pasta. Then, she brought an imaginary handful over for Ashley to eat. Yum!

It seems everything is something else these days ... the baby bottle is a candle on top of a lego birthday cake, Eden is a frog hopping across the floor, the small shelf is a baby bed. And, there are always imaginary things to go along ... imaginary food in the bowl to feed the baby, cake for us to eat, and monsters and the big bad wolf just across the room.