{ Imagination, Creativity, and Games… oh my! }

I bitch and moan about “age three” a lot. I know I do. It has just been a really challenging age for us. Two was a breeze compared to three, because the tantrums she had then were molehills compared to the mountainous tantrums she has now. I have, however, noticed that she has gotten better about them as she has gotten older, so I’m hoping we are finally over the hump. Anyway, back to the bitching part… I know I have complained a lot about our challenges, but I think we are finally in a groove where we understand each other and can communicate a lot easier now. It has led me to wonder the connection between the horrible tantrums she was having on a daily basis and her inability to fully express herself, creatively and otherwise.

Why do I wonder about that? Because a couple of weeks ago (or so), she began telling stories on her own without my prompting her, starting building mazes and creating her own ‘games’, as well as making up her own songs. When I ask her what she’s doing, she will go into five-minute explanations. She was doing all of that before, but the little details were never there, and the conversations during/after were never as long.

Anyway, I love seeing her thrive and grow and learn. She’s turning into a little girl more and more each day. She hit a growth spurt a couple of weeks back as well and looks so tall and big.

This weekend she convinced her daddy to play Stop Light with her. She got the small round laundry basket out of her room, put a blanket in the bottom, and sat inside. It was her car. Máyo tied his belt around the handle and “drove” her around the apartment practically all afternoon. She was scream out ‘red light’ or ‘yellow light’ or ‘green light’ and then giggle when he obeyed the rules. It was the cutest thing to watch. I taught her about traffic lights a couple of weeks back when we were in the car. She would always ask why we were stopped, or why other cars were stopped and we were going. When we got home, we did a craft. I cut out three circles and she painted one red, one green, and one yellow. Once they were dry, I glued them onto popsicle stick and we played Stop Light that way, with her running around. I’m sure she liked Daddy’s version better, because she asks him all the time to pull her around to play.

Lorelai has also been begging me to play ‘house’ with her on a daily basis. She likes to build the house using her favorite household items – laundry basket, exercise ball, ottoman, a shelf from her play kitchen, couch pillows, and a blanket. I wish I had a picture! Anyway, it always starts off the same; her inside the house and me coming to visit. Since I’m too big to fit in the house, she comes outside and we play with her pet elephant. Or baby. Or Lotso the bear. This went on for an hour last weekend while Máyo was working. I eventually convinced her to put all of the materials back, and then went to get her play tent out of her closet. We were both able to go inside then. 🙂

She’s been on a big kick with singing songs and making up new ones. When Dexter was adopted out, she came up with this incredibly sad and heartbreaking “Kitty Cat Song” (she calls it) that is slow and starts off: where is my kitty cat? oh where did he go? So now whenever she wants to sing it I add on: he is very happy in his pretty new home. Another one she came up with this morning was titled I Love My Mommy & Daddy, but I can’t remember the words to that one.

I’m going to wrap this post up because I need to go clean the dinner dishes. I don’t ramble on here often and it’s been a while. It was fun! 😉