Let's Pretend

It was a beautiful day today. Sunny and warm, the perfect day to be outside. And with my car in the shop preventing us from doing any necessary errands, we had the perfect excuse to spend the entire day in the backyard.

Alessandro and his mother joined us out there this afternoon. While the moms chatted, snacked, and enjoyed some mint ice tea, Lilypad Princess and Alessandro played with just about every outdoor toy, slid and swung, and played pretend.

The best part of the afternoon was watching the two of them playing "work" together. One would get into the police car saying, "Goodbye, I go to work now." The other would lean in through the window, give a kiss, and say "have a good day." Then the one in the car would drive off a few steps, and come back again saying "I'm home!" Then they would give each other a big hug, switch places and start all over again.



It was not only one of the cutest things I've ever watched, but it was amazing to watch them actually participating in each other's pretend universe. It wasn't that long ago they were only into parallel play, moving on to fighting over the same toys, but still not really playing with each other. Now they seem like such big kids in their play, not even needed us moms for most of the afternoon (they even took turns pushing each other on the swing.)