Sunday, March 23, 2008

Imagination

I have so many fond memories when I was younger and my brothers and sisters and I would always come up with the most creative things to play. Some of my favorites off the top of my head were: the rollar skate cafe ("it's so easy to rollarskate, call 756-5688"--yes I still remember our phone number from like 17 years ago); putting on plays, like "Horton Lays an Egg"; making up ballet recitals and convincing my brothers to wear our sunday tights in order to play the part of prince charming; surprising our parents by decorating the house with a theme and then creating dinner dates (consisting of jello, a can of corn, music for dancing and a sign on their bedroom door labeled "honeymoon sweet"); playing mailman where we would each build a little fort house complete with a mailbox and then we would write letters to each other and deliver them. We spent our free time using our imaginations instead of sitting in front of the tv (of course there was the TGIF exception with 'Full House' and Steve Urkle). A couple of years ago I remember watching my sisters kids play and they were always coming up with such creative ideas and I was always wondering when (and if) my kids would ever turn off the tv long enough to use their imaginations for some good old fashioned playing. The time has now come and I am LOVING it! It seems like Kylie and Jayden are always coming up with the cutest things to play and I just get a kick out of watching them. I've been happy to see that the tv has hardly been turned on at all during spring break and instead they are filling the time doing things such as puppet and shadow puppet shows; playing mom and dad; playing school; having races; and then here are a few of my favorites:





















They love taking the screen out of the window in the kitchen and then pretending like it is a drive-thru. Pretty much all of their meals during the break have been served out of that window and then they take turns being the chef and the customer.


While I was cleaning the house, Kylie wanted to pretend like we were on a cleaning show and she got all geared up for the part. I love how she stuffed a cup of water and a rag down her pants for a tool belt.


Jayden, with the help of Kylie, decided that he has a girlfriend. It's his little friend Annalise, and apparently he wants to marry her. Kylie was so excited about the prospect of a wedding and went straight to work creating every detail for the wedding. When we called Annalise and she couldn't come over for the ceremony, Kylie decided to fill in for her and carry on with the vows and wedding dance.And this one is my favorite....probably because in my former life I was a Kiddie Kandids photographer. Kylie set up this whole photo studio and my favorite detail is the 10ft tickle feather. She made tickets for each person and charged a 2 cent sitting fee.


These kids are so fun, I could just sit and watch them for hours. I love their little friendship and how throughout the day they'll say to eachother "you're my bestfriend", "you're my bestfriend too". I hope it always stays that way. I'm going to be so sad when they outgrow this creative, imaginative play stage, but atleast they'll have lots of fun memories to look back on!

2 comments:

Jodee said...

What a sweet post! I love all the creative things you did as a kid too. (Especially the date night for your parents) How fun to have so many playmates to imagine with. I love that Kylie and Jayden play so great together and will even turn off the TV to play together- now that is love! It gives me hope!

Janessa said...

We were creative little kids, weren't we. SO many fun memories! Your kids are so sweet! Thanks for sharing all their sweet fun play. They are very creative. I told you it wold happen:) The cleaning show get up is too funny. I love the wedding dance and the photo studio is the best! I love the tickler! You are such a good mom too. I usually try to get as much done when my kids are in that kind of play mode, but not you. Oh, no. You sit down and watch them, enjoy them and take their pictures. You're so awesome! That last picture is so precious!