Where Does Your Imagination Take You?

I remember when Little Miss was just turning two, a friend of mine gave her some dress up clothes for her birthday. She had a daughter six years older and wisely told me that though she'd gotten rid of the majority of her "baby" toys, the dress up clothes were the ones that she kept no matter what because children of all ages loved them, even when they didn't fit so well. That has stuck with me over the past four years.

And it's really true.

I remember playing dress up all the time as a kid, with my friends and by myself. I had a favorite pair of shoes that I'm pretty sure I rarely shared with anyone. I remember them as hand me downs from my mom when she grew tired of them - which is where most of our dress up clothes were acquired - though she insists we went to a store and I picked them out.

They were beautiful. To me. They were high heeled wedges that I somehow managed to walk in. And the elastic type straps that went across the tops to hold your feet in? They were perfect. They were rainbow colored from red all the way to violet. I had a belt that matched. I was in love (fortunately, my tastes have matured), and those shoes were the basis for every outfit and adventure I had with my dress up trunk.

I remember being a doctor, lining up all my Cabbage Patch Kids in the waiting room and calling them back one by one to cure their mysterious ills while wobbling back and forth in those wedges. Then there was the school teacher who taught neighborhood children in the basement, always wearing those precious shoes because teachers had to dress up, you know. I was a veterinarian caring for stuffed animals abandoned at an animal shelter, carefully stepping around the messes they left behind that my assistant (my sister, usually) was required to clean up. I'm pretty sure I was even a fire fighter in those shoes, pretending that the unfinished stairs of my basement was the ladder I needed to use to save the babies from the burning building before successfully putting out the fire.

I find it interesting now that so many of my games with dress up involved various career choices that I wanted to explore. I was never one who wanted to be a ballerina, fortunately, as I'm not sure how those shoes would have done during that exercise. Ultimately, I didn't become any of those. My imaginations in the basement with my dress up clothes and my precious shoes were enough for me to decide that maybe that career wasn't really what I wanted to do, but boy my imagination was stretched and I came up with some really great stories along the way.

I wouldn't trade my dress up trunk or my rainbow wedges for anything. I love that the wee ones continue to use their imaginations as they dress up, as well. You never know where it will take you. Where did yours take you when you were growing up?

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In the interest of full disclosure, I was provided with a copy of the book "Paddywhack Lane's The Costume Trunk" by Bob Fuller for review as a part of the From Left To Write book club. We do not write traditional reviews but rather write posts inspired by the books. I received no compensation, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Sun Kissed Beaches And Bikinis

I took last week off work. It was my week to recharge and relax. My plan was to meet friends for lunch on Monday (which I did -- yay!), get a mani/pedi (which I did), get massages, read books, relax, get caught up on cleaning out things we no longer use, spend time weeding and prepping the garden, all those things that I don't have time to do on a regular basis.

Yeah.

Except for Monday, I spent essentially all my time either at the wee ones' preschool getting ready for our Cinco de Mayo fundraiser or at the local elementary school prepping for and working their rummage sale. While I did read the Twilight books, that was late late at night.

My week off? A major FAIL. And yes, I know it's my fault.

My new theory? I need to go away for a vacation. And I think I need to do it by myself, maybe with a few friends. For five days or so. I wouldn't want to be away from the wee ones for longer than that.

Unfortunately, that's so not happening for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that a guy who works for me is traveling the first week of June and then July 6 to August 3, which pretty much kills the entire summer.

But I can dream, right?

In my dreams, I'm headed to Mexico. I figure it has to be cheap at this point, right? And it's warm. And friendly. The plane trip isn't too long. The food is great, as are the drinks.

I think I'm at an all inclusive resort, and the best part is that the food has no calories, nor do the drinks. And the all inclusive includes all the fun things like SCUBA that I haven't done since before Mister Man was born and the trapeze school that I would so love to do. They even have horseback riding on the beach.

It doesn't rain there, which is nice, and I'm at one of the places where the vendors aren't allowed to congregate on the beaches and drive you nuts. I'm usually pretty good about keeping them away from me (there's something about living IN Chicago that tends to give people the vibe not to bother you), but it's nice to not have to worry about it.

Oh, I'm so ready to go. What else am I missing?

Do you think the chaise lounge on the deck with my toes in the wee ones' sandbox with a margarita will cut it? Maybe if I add some homemade guac and chips.

She Has An Active Fantasy Life

As we were walking from the library through the parking lot, I gave the wee ones my usual lecture about dangers of the parking lot.

We talk about how we need to hold an adult's hand and always look both ways before crossing. I've tried starting to add the bit about how if a car has a stop sign, you can sort of look to make sure they're slowing down and then proceed. As long as you're holding an adult's hand.

The wee ones know the dangers of being hit by a car, and they excitedly shout them out to me -- ok, excitedly is probably the wrong word to use here.

You might get hit by a car!

Something might get broken....

You might die!

You might never be able to ride your bike again!

And then Little Miss turns to me -- oh so seriously -- But, Mommy, if I were in the middle of the street and a car was coming towards me and would hit me, I would just twirl around in a circle and then spin a web at the car.

And what exactly would that do, Sweetheart?

It would stop the car. And then it wouldn't hit me. She looked at me like I was nuts for even having to ask. *sigh*

Yeah... as much as I love to encourage the imagination of the wee ones, I think it's time to start reining hers in. Just a little.