Sunday, January 4, 2015

Let's Pretend...

Anna has always been a really imaginative kid. It's one of the things I like most about her (side note: I think this kid would make an amazing author/story-teller, and I would like to be first in line to read her books). And now that Henry is almost 3 (SERIOUSLY?! What happened to the last 3 years??), he's joining in more and more.

Usually Henry goes along with whatever Anna is coming up with ("Pretend you're a dog, now say this, pretend this happened and now there are SHARKS! SHARKS! YOU'RE GOING TO BE EATEN! Now pretend you're dead."), but lately he's started throwing his own ideas into the mix. And it's hilarious. I love listening to their games of pretend, though they don't like to be listened in on. So I have to bust out my super ninja mom skills for my entertainment.

The other day, Henry begged Anna before school to please play doggies with him when she got home. Not the mean, biting doggies, the nice doggies. Because apparently there are multiple genres of pretend doggies that they indulge in.

Another time I caught Anna saying to Henry, "Pretend you're my brother!" Then she got very upset with me when I pointed out that would not be pretending, as he is, in fact, her brother. I was banned from the room.

It's so interesting to me that a game of pretend can almost entirely consist of the two of them standing in a room just throwing out scenarios. "Pretend XYZ.", "Yeah, and then this happens...", "And then you say this." They don't actually DO much of anything, just spin this world around them using their words. I'm envious of their ability to enjoy this simple activity so much together.

Mostly it amazes me because I. Cannot. Do. It. Can't. Any time I try to participate I get the "You are so dumb, I cannot believe you just said that" look. Also, as a grownup, it's boring. So very boring. Let's play blocks or color or Connect 4. Something that has rules that I can follow. No problem. Pretend? Nope, I suck at pretend.

Wait, wait! I know! Let's pretend mommy's napping for the next hour. No? Nuts.