Beatrice has enjoyed imaginative/pretend play ever since she could speak. I thought by age 4 this would be on its way out, but just the opposite happened. If we didn't interfere, this girl would be in her imaginary world from the moment she wakes until the moment she falls asleep. From the past 24 hours alone....she has been Angelina Ballerina, a mermaid, a fairy, a princess, a dancer, a zookeeper, and an ice skater.Her morning cereal bowl was a houseboat, the milk was the water, and pieces of toast were books to be read. She has given and received about a dozen "pretend birthday presents." At 6:00 this morning, she helped me open my present, "a book about India and Japan and justice for all." (Ah, my little Socialist.) She walked into her babysitter's house this morning holding a "sombul" up high. This was an ENSEMBLE given as a pretend birthday present to her by her father, which she hung up on the clothes hook in the car so it wouldn't get wrinkly. Beatrice blew up countless imaginary balloons for a party this afternoon, tied them onto her wrist, kept her wrist out like one would if a balloon were really attached through a variety of activities, and tended the whole bouquet of them in the car so they wouldn't pop. I swear she actually saw balloons. Yesterday afternoon, she transformed into Sleeping Beauty on the stage at our (real) park downtown, dancing around, then collapsing and falling asleep, then insisting "I need two more parts! A prince and another one!" I went and kissed her awake and then insisted we finish the play at home so that Anthony and I didn't cause a traffic accident dancing around on stage (which is set near the main road of town).She regularly goes to sleep in her houseboat, tent, clubhouse, or any of another variety of setups, surrounded by books, toys, jewelry ...whatever she can find and each item representing something that it is not! She fills up a pillowcase ("sleeping bag") with everything she needs for camping and is just devastated if I empty it out or ask her what she needs a (whatever) for. Do you know the book JUST GO TO BED by Mercer Mayer? That character is my daughter, and we adults are just an interruption, annoyance, and simply ignorant to her fantasy life. I am so grateful we have three community theaters nearby!
Meanwhile, her articulation is improving and her vocabulary is just exploding. She has so many little expressions and new words. "Oh dear, oh dear" is one of our favorites and she mutters it with head shaking in disbelief over anything from noticing a hole in a sock, to Sula walking through her imaginary stage while she's performing as prima ballerina. At that moment, she declared Sula to be "annoying!" This morning she was frustrated because Anthony left the dance stage for a bathroom break. I simply said "Daddy will be right back B., he just needed to use the bathroom but he'll dance more when he returns." She smiled, relaxed and exclaimed "Mama, you're a genius! You always know what to tell!" And now, just before bed, I saw Beatrice pounding on the wall outside her room, just like with a hammer and nail, with nothing of course in her hands. I asked what she was doing and she replied "Hanging up a sign. It says princesses need privacy. There. It's all done." I've said it before and I'll say it again. 3 1/2 - 4 has been my favorite age of all. I'm tired as hell, but she never, ever fails to make me grin.
Here's a recent photo of my passionate, creative, free-spirited girl:
And above is a picture that got emailed to me by a good friend. I was curious to see how Beatrice would react, guessing she'd be confused and not like to see her lovely ladies without flowing hair. Shows what I know about my open-minded daughter...she thought it was great! She proclaimed them "beautiful," asked me if they got "just one haircut or did they cut a little bit every day until it was all gone?" I got a bit nervous when she asked me in the car if I could cut her hair when I got home from school today, but luckily she never mentioned it again.
