Imaginative Play

Caleb and Ethan's imaginative play has really been something else lately. Many days, they play together for hours, with virtually no conflict. The seven hours of morning and early afternoon that used to be full of going to the zoo, the science center, etc, are now filled with creating elaborate imaginary worlds in the play room. Caleb's imagination seems to know no bounds, and Ethan is becoming just as creative as his brother.

In the midst of whatever story/situation they set up and play-act in, they are usually pretending to be some character from a book or a movie that is completely unrelated to the current scenario. For example, Superman (Ethan) and Ursula (Caleb) will be orchestrating a pirate adventure in which the pirates are kidnapping animals from a zoo and selling them on the black market (in their words "selling them to ugly guys for lots of money"). Usually, they take on a "main" persona for the whole day, and even like me to call them by that name. (Sometimes I oblige them, and sometimes I don't.)

Ethan almost always pretends to be one superhero or another. His current favorite is Wolverine (though he has absolutely no knowledge of Wolverine, other than a page in his superhero coloring book), though Batman, Superman, and a pirate are frequent favorites as well.

Caleb, at the moment, is on a Disney Princess kick. He was"Ariel" for about four days in a row, and yesterday he pretended to be Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty) all day. Before the princess kick, his favorites were Aladdin, Spiderman and Venom.

I let them pretend as much as they want at home, but they do have to shed their persona's and answer to their given names when we go out. This is not accomplished without resistance, but, when it comes to a conflict of wills, nothing much is :)