This is probably the most I will ever pretend
Right now, I’m still on maternity leave, with my 4 month old and my 2.5 year old in tow. My toddler is getting chattier by the day, and I actively watch her imagination go wild as we play “kitchen” or play “let’s wait for the bus” or play “shopping at Costco” or play “the horse has to go poop” (and so on). It’s honestly kind of tiring to pretend so much, but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s a muscle I haven’t flexed in so long. I’ve had to remember how anything can be anything and how to fake silly voices and emotions. I insert my own humor into it where I can (my favorite lately is that I shout “sing, my angel!” in a deep voice like in Phantom of the Opera, and she has to sing a high note. She has no idea why, but it’s the house rule now) and it’s awesome. It’s like a constant improv class of “yes and”-ing. It also just hit me that… once my 4 month old gets to a playful age, I will probably pretend less and less as he learns to participate in playing. If we do decide to have more kids, the older two will be able to entertain themselves enough that they will play together probably more than they’ll play with me. Sure, I’ll play with them still (and I cannot WAIT to introduce board games and other things that I find fun as an adult), of course. But this moment in time is the most I will probably ever play pretend, for hours on end, for days on end. So, as tiring as it is, I’m going to savor it as much as I can.
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