So, for the record, his top faves lately (erm, today):
Crab town. He spends hours on this. The box holds lots of shells, claws and some sand. This morning he worked in it while I made breakfast (and again for lunch) and was beaming when he showed me his city planning. "Here," he said, "is Sand Square. And then, this is Tackle Alley or Crab Row and over here is Crab Village." One of the largest shells is the chef, replete with sea shell pot and small snails for cooking. A large, swirling seashell is the playground. Particular crabs and claws are his favorites. The world even has a "not so nice" crab that I've seen cause destruction. He has been playing with this for well over six months and is entirely enamored.
His tools. He has a toolbox from his godmother. Full of odds and ends he scrounges whenever E or I work a project. He has a little pile of wood in the hallway on which he hammers and screws and drills. Today, he re-built his block, first, into a sculpture (Title: Forest of Broken Metals. It was a really beautiful grouping of hammered in nails and carefully bent metal pieces. It was all I could do to not remove it and replant it on an old piece of wood I have sitting here, waiting to be an art base...) and then (since Mommy held back and didn't fuck with him, insert back pat for rare moment of self-control) into an intricate playground landscape. The project is different every day. The very loud hammering noises are not...
And BB. Here's the cast of tiny characters that live in his dollhouse and drive his trucks. He completely created the green one (fourth from the left) and the grey one (third from the right) - and designed the white and the green ones on the left endish (cut the felt, placed the pieces, but bailed on the stitching ;) While he still plays with this family and his dollhouse more than anything else, there has been a definite move away from basic toys in the last six months. BB, the character and family member though, is still the most constant thing in P's life. The gulf between me (the voice of BB) and me as Mama still confuses me. He will chat with BB (yah, that's me...), looking at me, no doll in sight, only the silly BB voice I do. He'll chat and joke and tease and then plot. And after they (we) finish plotting, he'll call to me and fill me in on the plot... as if I wasn't there just a minute ago.... Yes. BB seems to still be completely real to him ;)
Oh, and the swing. No pic. But I swear, it is a lifestyle for the child. He spends endless amounts of time in that piece of fabric, twirling and pumping and swaying from wall to wall. Then he climbs it, like a rope. And slides down. And ties it up high, and does pull-ups to get in and then swings way up by the ceiling. After so much use, it needed some sewing machine time today, so down it came. By 4:00, it still wasn't done (so many projects, so little time;) and the child moaned, "My swing! I need my swing, Mama. My body is longing to swing and I really need it!" And I don't think he's kidding either (despite his proclivity towards melodrama;) Swinging seriously resets him. I whipped out my machine, washed and dried the wrap and barely had it tied through the toggle before the kid's butt was happily bouncing into it.
So, that's today's faves. (In addition to creating Solstice presents, wrapping said presents, teasing BB that he couldn't open said presents, creating a Circle of Protection (out of the rock collection) to protect said presents from BB... and making tree decorations, and making a long, involved imaginary play that we then acted out (with BB)...) Its true, those four are the faves, most days. But most days see totally different projects, too. However, none of them are the things you talk about when somebody asks you what your kid is into these days. Those answers are supposed to be "baseball" or "Lego" or something like that. Not Crab Town. Or Imaginary Sibling.
Oh well. Blank stares it is!
No comments:
Post a Comment