let's play pretend

Garrett's little imagination has been blossoming lately. He loves to play pretend, and I often catch him giving voices to conversations between his toys. For Christmas my parents gave him the components of a play kitchen, and he's been busy cooking ever since.


First he puts the saucepan on the burner and attempts to light the flame. (Luckily he still only pretends to turn it on, but I imagine that the day is coming soon when it won't be make believe. When it does come, we'll likely just take the knobs off when we're not using the stove.)


Next he stirs up whatever it is he's cooking. He's pretty vague as to the details of his menus, but rest assured, they involve dashes of every spice in my spice rack.


And then he waits until it has simmered to perfection.

His little Neighborhood of Make Believe extends beyond the borders of the kitchen. He calls people on the phone (usually Grandma. In fact, lately his word for phone has been "Grandma.") and has long, detailed conversations (see below). While standing on the toilet next to me in the bathroom each morning, he takes my make-up brushes and pretends to apply blush to his cheeks. To appease his recent obsession with diaper rash cream when I don't have any within reach during a diaper change, I pretend to put some on and he is equally as satisfied. And I can't help but wonder what is going through that blond little head of his when he talks to his cars and trains as he drives them around, or pours some mysterious invisible substance from a coin bank into my hands. It certainly makes me wish I could crawl inside his brain for a day and see just exactly what it is he sees. I'm sure, though, that whatever it is is wonderful.