Imagination

Carly and I stayed inside ALL day today. I was slightly nervous that my plan to keep her in our warm home during our current cold snap may make us both a little stir crazy; however, after yesterday afternoon I should have known this would be far from the case.

Yesterday afternoon Carly's imagination had her trying to put a diaper on Elmo. Unfortunately, she wasn't working with a diaper but rather a burp cloth I was carrying around as her handkerchief.

After breakfast this morning Carly decided to clean out her cabinet and look at all the neat things she and I were storing in there. In the way back she found a bag of old bottles. I watched in anticipation as to what exactly she would do with them. It had been a while since her last bottle and was really hoping she wasn't interested in drinking from it. To my surprise, she stood up, walked into the family room and pulled her baby doll out of her toy bag. I assumed she was going to try to feed the baby doll, I was mistaken. Instead she went and got the lunch tote that I have always used to transport her milk and now solid foods. She then attempted to walk around juggling all three items before stuffing the doll and bottle into the bag.

Later on in the day Jake and Gertrude were playing. Carly attempted to "walk" into the action, but wasn't having much luck getting their attention. So, like any 13 month old she stepped back, watched for a few moments, and then crawled into the situation. I can only imagine she was pretending to be a dog too. She crawled between the two dogs and then circled them. This did manage to get their attention, so she quickly stood up and starting petting at both of them and waving profusely. (The petting and waving took up many points of our day.)

Carly also took time today to "cook," "shop with her shopping cart," and "read" to her doll. I continue to be amazed with how much she is soaking up by sitting back and observing her environment.