Imagining things

I don't think I've mentioned it in my blog yet, but my little girl has been developing quite the imagination lately! She's been very much enjoying playing with the older girls at Amanda's (4 and 5 yrs old) with the beauty salon and their kitchen, and with the boys and their pretend tools. Emily is apparently playing with the tools properly, while the boys run around pretending they're guns and swords. :) At home, we have her shopping cart that she adores, and she takes endless care of her babydolls, making sure they're fed and wrapped up properly. But I think her most recent activities really show her creativity, and I'll post some pictures to prove it (eventually!).

She and her cousin Megan decided that the little blue tub that holds all the stuffed animals was actually a swimming pool, and they were having fun jumping in and pretending to "PASH!!" in the water. But first, you have to fill the pool up with water, and the most logical thing in the toyroom that looks like a hose is the cord to the keyboard that I brought up for Emily to play with. I thought she might use the keyboard to pretend she's using a computer, like I do (and so I can tell her not to play with my keyboard but to play with hers), but instead, the cord is a hose. She "fills" up the tub ("pschhhhh") and then climbs in and wiggles around - so cute! Today, she came over to me and pretended to wash my hair. When I asked if she was putting soap in it, she got a big grin and said "Soap!! Wash!!" and rubbed my head all over with her little hands. Then she "rinsed" me off, and "dried" my hair with her baby blanket. She was having so much fun! I was feeling a little guilty that I don't have toys that are geared for imaginative playing, but maybe it requires more imagination to adapt things for alternate purposes instead of having obvious uses? I don't know, it was sure fun to see her little brain working like that.

I got to clean up buttprints off of the bench on the porch yesterday because Emily removed a soiled diaper and had sat up there before coming to tell me that she needed a change. I guess, "change" isn't the right word - a cleanup and a new diaper, but she had taken care of the removal herself. She did it again today, but at least this time she came to tell me as she was taking off her diaper. Gah!!! How do I convert this into pooping in the potty?? I could scold her into keeping her diaper on, but I think it's actually a step towards potty training to be so averse to wearing a dirty diaper, and being so aware of its purpose (and the alternatives available). The only thing I've thought of is to not flush a diaper's contents anymore, and use that as incentive to get it in the right place the first time, but who knows if that's a concept that will get through to her. It's interesting to try to imagine how she interprets the things I try to teach her.

My ribs hurt. :( maybe another cookie will help....