One of the lovely things I’m witnessing in LP at 4 years old is her growing awareness of her imagination and sense of empowerment that comes with that. Not only is her imagination a source of fun and play, it is also a force for comfort and to manage difficult moments.
Two examples:
- She and her wonderful babysitter M had plans to take two of her stuffed panda buddies — Beckett and Monium — with them on a morning adventure up to Cal’s campus. M tells me that they didn’t realize the pandas weren’t with them until they were a good hour into their walk. LP started to have a meltdown. M tried a few different strategies that she rejected and really ramped up the screaming. After a few minutes, she stopped screaming and tearfully said, “I have imaginary Beckett here and imaginary Monium here” while tucking one under each arm. And that was that.
- Last weekend, LP and I went to see the Bay Area Childrens’s Theatre production of A Year with Frog and Toad. (It has now moved from Berkeley but is playing in San Ramon until May 8th and LP & I both recommend it!) One of the stories from the musical that stood out to her was the sledding episode. Frog and Toad are heading down a steep hill on a sled and Frog gets bumped off, leaving Toad alone on the sled. This clearly was troubling to LP as she talked to me about the show afterwards. (It troubled Toad as well.) LP found her own solution which is “There’s an imaginary dog on the sled with Toad.”
So interesting to me! The awareness of the ability to choose one’s imagination for comfort is something I had not thought about before. Have you seen this evolve in the little people you know?
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