Life With Leah

I don't have my camera because Levin took it with him on his week long trip to Kamchatka, but I'll try to come back and post a picture of my sweet Leah.

I've always feared having a daughter with a big imagination ever since my niece Mary wanted me to play pretend ponies with her and we had to fly around up in her bedroom. (Rebecca if you're reading this, don't tell Mary I wrote this.) Well, an imaginative daughter is what I have. Lately she has a game of, "Mom what do I look like?" Two days ago a teacup on her head and she was a princess. Yesterday she asked me again and so I ventured, "a princess?" Scoffing and offended she walked away so I had to calm her down and ask her, what she thought she looked like and it was the man with a yellow hat from Curious George. FYI: The teacup was pink.

That's not the hardest part. The hardest part is that I am absolutely not an imaginative person so when she wants me to play "mouse" with her I don't know what to do in the game. And it's awkward for me.

The easy part is that she can turn any object into what she needs it to be. She was making sour soup at a friends house and needed a spoon to stir her pot. She grabbed their Barbie doll and Barbie became the spoon. I was trying to clean the living room after playing with her for a long time and she needed ingredients for her "recipe" and I could hand her blocks as well as her pretend food for any item she needed. An orange was cherries, and a block was some other fruit.

We do "Mother Goose" time every day with another family - a little preschool. I have noticed it is hard for Leah's friends to play with her sometimes because she goes racing off on one of her imaginative games and they have no idea what is going on - I mean when you're pretending your Barbie is a spoon it can be hard if you didn't clearly hear her state what is going on.

But she has soooo much fun in life!! So I'm trying to make myself adjust instead of make her adjust, but it may take a while for me to change and acquire new abilities. A little tip I've learned is to pay close attention to a TV show she watches because she will most likely make reference to something in it during a pretend game in the next 6 months or so. Did I mention she has a fantastic memory?

There is one thing to be said of Leah as she runs to our friends' house wearing a purple summer dress with jeans on underneath and winter coat on, her pink sunglasses on even though it's snowing and carrying her purple Dora purse filled with some random pieces of our toy toolbox, a teacup, and a magnet - the girl's got personality!! I wouldn't trade her for a boring old dolt any day. Well, maybe when it's bedtime as I assume super boring children get into their pajamas more easily.