Kyle and Owen have been taking their imaginative play up about 100 notches lately. They seem to suddenly be on a whole new plane of play. Recently we have watched as they have pretended to be in boats floating on the ocean; pretended to be driving cars, trucks, airplanes, or motorcycles on roads and over bridges; pretended to be doggies jumping into an imaginary river; and pretended to be Dora the Explorer on adventurous missions. But up until today we have never witnessed either of our boys pretend to be another real person other than themselves.
This evening K & O were playing in the playroom. Kyle was playing with his toy chainsaw — by far his favorite toy right now. As usual he was pretending to cut things with it: the couch, the coffee table, the stairway banister. It was dark outside and he could see his reflection in the playroom windows. He was really getting into it — just loving every minute of watching himself jump around with his beloved chainsaw. Suddenly he looked up at me, and, holding his chainsaw with one hand and pointing to himself with the other hand, announced: “I’m MorFar. I’m MORFAR.” I said, “Oh!? You’re MorFar?” And Kyle said, “Yup! I’m MorFar! Watch me start this chainsaw!” For the next five minutes or so he pretended to be MorFar, starting his chainsaw, cutting “wood” with the chainsaw, starting the chainsaw again, cutting more “wood” with the chainsaw, being MorFar. Kyle absolutely adores his MorFar so it isn’t surprising to us that this is the person he first pretends to be.
A first today for Kyle: taking his play to a whole new level — pretending to be a real person other than himself — being MorFar.