Imagine All The People...

Erin loves to play with her "Little People" figures. She props them up around a plastic table, and supplies them with tea party treats and accessories. She will play with these characters for long stretches of time, imagining various scenarios, and changing the tea-time seating arrangements. Yesterday I took a good look at her set-up, and had to smile. Her box of People contains figures from a variety of sets, including the Christmas manger set, the farm scene, and Beth's doll-house characters. They all seem to get along fine, and don't seem at all upset about being thrown into one container together. And so, Baby Jesus reclines at table (literally) next to a construction worker and a farmer, while a teenager waits on the sidelines with a cell-phone in hand.

You can also see the "waiting line" that forms at the edge of the table each time. Erin has grasped the concept of "waiting your turn" in a restaurant, so these cued-up characters periodically rotate into the chairs around the table. Note that there is even a turkey, complete with brightly-colored feathers, patiently waiting his turn to attend the party.

I often read child-rearing articles which lament the lack of imaginative free-play time among today's youth. Stuck in front of the TV, apparently today's overweight children are unable to entertain themselves by using their toys and their minds. And so, I show you these photos to prove that imaginative drama is still alive and well...at least here at our house.