Growing up too fast

My oldest daughter has always had an amazing imagination.  She can entertain herself for hours playing with her stuffed animals and making up games.  At bedtime, especially, she will setup a pile of 10 or so of her stuffed animals on her bed and play camping with them, or school, or church, singing time, or any number of games. In fact, sometimes, she would kick her stuffed cat, Ariel, out of the room and ask us to put Ariel in the hallway because she was being too loud and not allowing her to go to sleep.

Enter the ability to read. I think it's great that my daughter is learning to read.  It's opening up a whole new world of entertaining herself and not having to wait for mom and dad to read books to her. My husband and I had a conversation the other night that we noticed that she was much quieter in bed before lights out and that we couldn't hear her playing with her animals. The next morning, the following conversation occurred:

Daughter to her 4 year old brother: "I never play with my stuffed animals anymore."
Mom: "Why not?"
"I like to read books in my bed instead."
"You can do both things."
"I can't remember the games I used to play with my animals."
"You can always make up new games to play with them."
"But they like to play the old games and I can't remember how to play them."

Noooooo!!!!

Ok, so I didn't really yell that out loud, but I wanted to.  I wanted to say "You can't grow up yet! You're only 6! Yes, reading is great, but you need to be a little girl and play with your stuffed animals forever." It made me sad. She really is growing up too fast, and I don't like it. I'm not ready for it. And Ariel and her other animals are getting lonely. I may have to start playing with her stuffed animals on her behalf.

Easily amused

My children are easily amused.  I wish you could better hear the sound in this video.  Did you know that if you attempt to inflate your belly button with a bike pump it makes a fart sound? How do they think of these things?

 I love this link http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/ that really explains how easily children are entertained. Once again, who needs video games or TV?

Chanting in Unison

What is it about chanting in unison that is so appealing and enjoyable to little kids? One child will start a comment, and the other child will join in, as they repeat the phrase over and over again.  This week's phrase seems to be "Go awaay, dude!" chanted as only a 3 year old and 5 year old can do.  I guess it's an improvement over "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear".  This one is still frequently chanted, regardless of the fact that Halloween was 7 months ago.  I mean, really, is the a word that is much funnier to a 3 and 5 year old than "underwear"?  Who can blame them?

I guess as adults we're found chanting things in unison at sporting events or even political rallies.  So, maybe we don't ever grow out of it.  The things we chant, though, are maybe not quite so random.  It's like joining in singing when someone else is singing a song, I guess.  There must just be something inborn in us about being part of a group.

Narrating Life

My 3 year old son has taken to narrating his playtime.  I don't know if he's seen too many Thomas the Tank Engine movies or we've read too many books written in 3rd person, but it's fairly entertaining to listen to. Especially because it's frequently when there's no one else around.

 I'll overhear him playing with his toy trains and saying things like this:
"'You're going too fast,' said the blue train.  He needs to slow down. He goes up the hill now."

Or he'll be playing with the kid's nativity saying and saying things like this:
"Mary and Joseph need to stop at the manger. The bad guys are coming."

Perhaps it's time I start playing with them a little more and doing some role playing rather than reading books!

When I'm a mom, you can still be a mom.

Several times a week I hear the phrase (from my 4 yr old) - "Mom, when I'm a mom, you can still be a mom".  It's then followed up with a phrase like one of the following:
"You can cook with me."
"I get to choose what we have for lunch every single day".
"I can drive the car and you can sit up front with me."
"You can come and stay with me. For 15 minutes."

I find it somewhat flattering.  I'm assuming that what she is saying is that she wants to be a mom and that I don't have to change who I am (a mom) even when she's bigger.  I'll enjoy these days of her wanting me to be her mom and hopefully remember them when she's a teenager and my being her mom is not necessarily something she's enjoying.

Rowdy stuffed animals

The stuffed animals are getting kind of rowdy tonight.  I had to go in and tell my 4 yr old at 9 pm that it was 5 minutes until lights out. (She's been in bed since before 8 pm).  She said the animals were laughing and bouncing all over the place.  Apparently they're the ones being loud tonight and not her, so I had to tell them it was bedtime as well.

I love having an imaginative child.  I love that each of her stuffed animals has a name, and we all know them - Ariel, Punch, Jello, Tutu, Goofy, Donald, etc.  I love hearing her carry on full conversations with them, with each of them speaking in a different voice.  And I love that her little brother can be sound asleep in the bunk bed below her while this is going on (with his one stuffed animal - a dog named "Puppy").  Here's hoping she never stifles that creative side and finds a great outlet for it as she gets older!

A case of mistaken identity

I'm always calling my children the wrong names.  Luckily they're good at correcting me.  Throughout the day I'll hear the following:
"No, I'm Luke Skywalker".
"I'm Spiderman."
"I'm a princess."
"I'm a ballerina."
"I'm not a pioneer. I'm a cowboy."
"I'm not a good guy. I'm the grabbing monster."
"I'm a baby bamboon". (whatever that is)
"I'm puppy's daddy."

I was wondering what would happen if as an adult I decided to assume different identities throughout the day.  Would it make the day more entertaining? Is that why children aren't as stressed? If they don't like what they are, they just change their identity.  Hmm...maybe tomorrow I'll decide to be Ariel. Think I can pull it off without my husband thinking I've completely lost it?