Playing pretend

Marko "playin' bitar."

Marko's ability to pretend has taken a big jump lately.  A few examples:

The other day, he wanted very badly to "go somewhere."  When I said no, he just picked up my diaper bag, zipped it up, and walked off through the house calling "See you later!"

He got a hold of my breast pump the other day and tried pretending it was: a trumpet, a fire hose, and a flashlight.  Not, surprisingly, a gun.  But then I don't think he's ever seen a gun.

Today he "went shopping" by roaming through the house putting random objects in his "cart" (a box).  Two lids kept getting taken out and made into a peanut butter sandwich.

Last night he sat in the middle of the sidewalk with a long stick, dangling it into the grass.  He said he was "fishing for Doubt-Trout in Roover River" (name that reference!).

Just a few minutes ago, he found a toy stop sign.  He pointed out that we stop at the stop sign, and then insisted we get in the car so we could stop at the stop sign.  I staved off a meltdown by suggesting he sit in the baby's carseat (which he loves to do) and pretend to drive.  He spent several minutes in there, saying he was stopping at the stop sign, driving again, and that he got lost.  Then he got out to "put gas in the car" and went back to shopping.

And his favorite thing for me to do lately is to make his stuffed animals talk to each other, kiss each other, hug each other, or dance.  He is WAY into that.

Let me tell you, it's nice when my hands are full to be able to participate in what he's doing just by talking with him, rather than getting down on the floor or letting him up on my lap!