Imagination Running Wild

There's something about kids imaginations that is just mesmorizing. I can sit back and just watch Kaylani play endlessly...and I have. In fact, I've found myself running out the door to work instead of walking leisurely out on time (like this morning) because I got caught up watching her play. And I would totally do it time and time again.

I don't even know why we buy toys for Kaylani (or bring home donated/hand-me-down toys from friends) since she's entertained by the simplest of things. This mornings "toy" was a cup. A simple, hard plastic cup that I got over 10 years ago from a friend at Microsoft (which is completely irrelevant except I think he might possibly be in the spy business now...like Chuck). One second she's pretending to drink normally out of the cup. Next she's holding it over her mouth (and nose) and talking into her new "micro/megaphone." The next its a sock on her bare feet (which she finds hilarious). And lastly its a camera that she can hold as close to her face as possible and say "smile cheese" to while "taking a picture." All that with a cup. And all that within 10, highly entertaining (for both of us), minutes.

Seeing Kaylani play like that just brings me back to a simpler time. A time where everything you touched turned into so much more. A cup was 4 different things, a blanket 5. A box? An uncountable number of things! Those were the easy times. Times when I didn't have to worry about deadlines, income, budgets, social obligations, or to remember to bring my 2 Blackberrys, iPad, and computer with me to NYC (while forgetting an umbrella on a rainy day).

Sometimes I wish I could go back to the easy times. But then I look at Kaylani play and I realize I'm actually in best time after all. And I'm pretty sure its only going to get better, and that's not hard to imagine at all.

Stop Hitting Yourself!

When Kaylani could hold a toy by herself, it marked another milestone that she reached. And when she could then move her hand and toy to her mouth, it didn't exactly mark a milestone, but it was definitely something she was extremely pleased with. Lately, she's been able to move quicker, and even taking things to the next level by holding not just one toy, but two at the same time. With both those things came some new challenges for Kaylani that she was less then pleased with.

There were certain challenges associated with moving her hand to her mouth, and she mastered that quite well. It started off slowly, but she got the hang of it without any issues. And as she got better at it, and starting moving quicker, she started hitting herself with her toys. Could it be that she's just moving too quick for herself? Or maybe it's that she's overexcited to get it into her mouth? Or maybe, she's just not that coordinated? My guess is that it's some combination of the three, and either way, it's pretty entertaining to watch.

With one toy, she'll move to shove it in her mouth, and one of two things will happen. The first, and more likely, is that she'll get it into her mouth too fast and end up choking herself just a little bit. The second, is that she'll miss her mouth completely and just bonk herself on the cheek, or the nose, or the chin. It's this second part that's funny/sad to watch. Watching someone hit themselves is always funny, but watching her excited smile turn into a sad frown is sad. Oh well, she'll learn.

It gets even more difficult for her when she has a toy in each hand. Inevitably, one will make it into her mouth, and the other will just bonk her somewhere on the face. On some occassions, she'll even try and get both into her mouth, which just doesn't work, and ends up pushing the first toy further in (which causes crying). I'm sure she'll figure it out someday, but for now, we're just glad that she's holding things. Whether it's one or two, it's a step in the right direction, and that's the only direction we want to head.