We Have a Pretend Play Sighting!

I'm continually amazed at the little things that get me excited for Ethan that most parents would blink twice at. Sometimes that feels almost silly and a little sad, but mostly I'm grateful for new lessons in learning to be thankful for the little things, a cliche people are always saying but how often living?

So, pretend play should come naturally to most children and usually blossoms around age two. There will always be some kids who are less imaginative and don't care so much for elaborate pretend play, but living out some form of it on a regular basis is absolutely vital. Pretend play means a child is beginning to understand symbolism and is beginning to think beyond themselves and their immediate needs. Pretend play sprouts first from learning to immitate, then sparks the brain to think "outside the box" and create new scenarios and possibilities.

Again, we don't think any of this when our typically developing toddlers begin "cooking" in a toy kitchen or pretending to drive the box they're sitting in. And we don't have to push them to...they just naturally do. Sometimes I get frustrated that play with Ethan has to be so much WORK. This is fun! I want to shout in my less patient moments. But then, when he shows me an inkling of understanding how to play pretend, I just want to grin from ear to ear.

Ethan is just beginning pretend play. He will play in his kitchen for a few minutes, always the same way, always bringing me a toy piece of corn to eat and a drink, and always putting them in the microwave part. He will put food pieces in his Elmo microwave (always in the same order) and will offer me some, and then pretend to eat some, imitating the gobbling noises I make. I love the imitating, because it's something that's been challenging for him. He is just starting to understand you can make blocks into trains or airplanes or that the clothes basket could be a toy car.

The other day he was playing with these two flat wooden dolls that Anna had decorated as part of a little craft project. He likes to bang them together and try to sing jingle bells, with the proper rhythm and all. I saw a toy truck nearby and decided we needed to give the dolls a ride in the truck. He thought this was rather funny, especially when the truck crashed. We played that for about 5 minutes.

Today I took out the truck again while he was playing with his animal magnets on the refrigerator. He saw the truck, looked at the monkey in his hand, and put in in the truck. We started pushing it around, and he brought other animals to "go for a ride." Then we pushed the truck over to Anna, who was lying sick on the couch, to unload.

Voila! Pretend play. I felt as if I could see the connections in his mind being made, the way he carried over an idea from the other day and applied it in a different way. In that moment, as inconsequential as it might have seemed to most others, all I could feel was incredibly proud.