Interesting title I suppose. One day I was quietly observing and listening while Mady was playing. I find it fascinating to watch AND listen to her play. Especially how “play” changes daily/weekly. How little ones go from hitting, banging and making cave-man noises with their toys to actually conversing with them. Then there’s the eventual interaction with other little folks. One day while we went to our local mall that has a play yard. It’s a pretty dang cool play yard! The entire play yard is on a cushion mat and the slide and such are made of a rubber product. Again, very cool. So, while playing in her own world and observing others, a little boy came up behind Mady and wanted to go up and over a small bridge she was climbing. She turned around and had the following conversation with him:
Mady: “Ok….you go up. Go up that ways”
Boy: just looks at her and doesn’t speak
Mady: “Ooze er feets”
Boy: just looks at her, doesn’t speak, starts climbing
Mady: runs to the other side and says “Now jump” while using up and down hand signals to demonstrate
Boy: just looks at her, doesn’t speak, hops off
Mady: looks over at me, says “He hops” then looks at the boy, who is running away and says “Good job boy”
Then there is “pretend” mode. Example: ”Ok, Dora, you be train now…..choo-ooo choo.” “Good job, Dora.” “Want to jump on bed Dora?” “One, two, free, jump!” “Aaaabbbbeeeee” (she was yelling for the dog) “AAABBEEEEEE” (yelling louder). “Aabee, jump too?” This occurred all at once….Dora to Abby. Then there are the days she says she is Ringo from the Beatles. I know. A two year-old and the Beatles, not quite normal. She loves them and I explain more about that later.
Pretending is so important. You can just see that little mind working, processing, and wondering. It’s such a wonderful, and often humorus thing to observe. 
Okay…so what does poop have to do with any of this? Well, I just needed a “P” word to go with play and pretend. More about poop in a later post….when the potty training kicks in!
