Imagination

I have to be honest and confess that there are some games that my son plays with me that I have absolutely no idea what he is doing and what we are doing. I have no idea where he got the idea for it, I see no connection to anything that we have ever watched or done. I am completely lost.

But, it does not seem to matter at all to Tim since whatever I am doing, I seem to be doing it right. He laughs, giggles, "wheeeees!" and repeats whatever it is that we are doing...over and over again.

I must say that his imagination has a complete life of its own and this makes for an exciting time. You see, he is creating his own understanding and his own way of doing things. He is making connections in things that I have not seen before. I used to try and show him how to do things but now I am content to let him show me how to do things even if it is nothing like what he is "supposed" to do (such as play on a keyboard with coherent notes).

Yesterday was a most impressive time for me to see the imagination of my son in full bloom. There is a website that has Elmo showing the letters (with some type of action) whenever the keyboard is pressed. I happened to notice that Tim was attempting to imitate Elmo but I though nothing of it and went into the living room.

Later, Tim came in and started rummaging through his toys. I figured he was done and asked him if he wanted me to turn Elmo off. "No, Daddy!" came the puzzled reply. Finally he found what he was looking for: two small rounded sticks.

I followed him back into the kitchen to the computer and watched him press "V" which has Elmo play a violin. Tim, as best he could, tried to emulate Elmo and the violin with those two sticks.

My jaw dropped. I had not seen him with his own imagination and inventiveness with such clarity and flair until now. I asked Shannon if he had done anything like this before, and she was certain he had not.

There he stood, playing his violin for all to see. Then, after Elmo was done, Tim hit the "V" again with the stick so he could be ready faster. Not only a creative imagination, but a problem solver, too.

He is also becoming very affectionate. Today, for no obvious reason (I had given him nothing for some time) Tim came up to Shannon and me individually and hugged us saying, "Thank you Daddy!" and "Thank you, Mommy!"

We think that he was in just a very happy mood and was just telling us he loved us. If I ever need to be in a good mood, there are these wonderful kids who do a great job of putting me there.


My walking girl is just tearing up the house now. She is still not as talkative as Mr. Timothy "I'm trying out for Rush's Job" Porter, but she is being much more deliberate with her words. And, she really likes to be read to. She has a wonderful trick that Daddy is always a sucker for. She finds a book and brings it over to me. She hands it to me, I take it, then she throws up her arms so that I will read to her.

Yesterday and today I have been getting alot of attention requests from this little girl and couldn't be happier.

I will tell you that we have great kids. While driving around the other night, the kids played with each other and giggled and laughed and talked to each other. Tonight, Timothy was teaching her how to play with some of his more complex toys.

Have I ever mentioned that life is good?