Imagination

Lily's imagination has been running wild lately. From the bear who lives under her bed and must be appeased nightly with strawberries to the complete set of miniature imaginary Barcrofts she keeps in her pocket (because who doesn't want a spare mom, an on-call cartoonist, an instant playmate, and a baby sister that one can take out and put away at will), she certainly keeps us entertained. Did I mention her pocket is sometimes imaginary too?

While antiquing with Noni in Waxahatchie, Lily struck up a conversation with a store owner. It was 108 in Waxahatchie that week, and the store owner did not have air conditioning in her shop. Lily told her it would be ok "'acause my friend the polar bear is driving his white pickup truck down from the north pole and bringing the cold air with him. He keeps a fan in the bed of his truck to blow the cold air with." We then all HAD to go sit on the bench outside to wait for Mr. Polar Bear to get there.

On our recent trip to New Mexico, Lily looked out the window at a field full of creatures that were clearly a bushes and said, "Mommy! Auntie Marnie! Look at the cows!!" We dutifully looked out all available windows, seeing nothing but rolling meadows filled with scrubby looking bushes. There was not a cow in sight. Puzzled, I said, "Lily. I don't see any cows. All I see is bushes." To which my daughter replied, shaking her little head sadly at my ignorance, "Mooooom! The bushes are attending (pretending) to be cows!"

During nap time yesterday, Lily's bed transformed into a magical train, which has a special route between our house and Sonic. Games like this get her in trouble, though. Sam's Club is NOT the only place she's tried to pay for real items with imaginary money and a smile. Alas, the Zoo attendants really won't let you pay for a train ride and duck food with imaginary quarters.