Lucy Love

I'm not sure how other 4 year olds spend their time. Whenever I presume that they slip into imaginary land like Lucy does, I am told that somebody's kid does not do that. I honestly don't know what else she would do with her time. These days she is either a super-hero, a construction worker, a jockey, a hockey player, or a motorcycle rider (these are her terms). She plays with her little animals still, but not as much. She is much more into running around outside pretending to fight the bad guys in some way.

The photos of her in the hard hat are her pretending to be a "constructioner designing a new road that will help people not crash". Her window drawings actually look a bit like a metro map. She worked on this for about 2 hours, with stories and demos to an imaginary crowd. It reminded me of somebody being at a dry erase board in a big board meeting, with hat on for effect.

The other thing Lucy loves to do these days is to get Graham to laugh. It isn't that hard really as he is always wanting her attention. She plays with Harper in new ways as well. They "cook" in the basement and color or chalk together. Lucy can be seen leading Harper around the house or the backyard, holding her hand, telling her how to do something or just dragging her around as part of her imaginary landscape. Most of the time Harper doesn't mind and some of it is running off one her as well. I will catch her talking and playing her own pretend games and when I ask her what she is up to she will reply "talking to myself".

Lucy has started to mourn some of her tshirts. They simply can't be worn any longer. They are beat up, too tight and too short. She is growing and the only part of this that she minds is that she can no longer wear her Snoopy tshirt, the other parts are just fine with her- like skipping naps to get more time outside, getting to jump on the trampoline next door, and getting to fetch the paper at the foot of the driveway, all by herself. She is most proud of the fact that she gets to help Ian with some of his chores, like cutting down bamboo (she used her little scissors- not so effective, but she was wanting to help), or putting the top on the sump pump out in the front yard. These seem to trivial to us, but she thinks the world of getting to help her dad out.

The other thing she thinks the world of- the 15 year old boy next door. Ryan. Ahhh, Ryan. He is dreamy to her. He can kick a soccer ball like no other, he is the best at basketball, he jumps on the trampoline with her. He is humoring the little girl next door- she thinks he is wanting to spend time with her. I even had to tell her to quit yelling his name in the corner of our yard the other day. He was at school so, no, he could not come over to play stomp-rocket. She climbs trees to impress him. She stacks books up to watch him out her bedroom window. I know she just wants the attention of a "kid" next door and nothing more. But the fact that our pretty little blonde is trying to get the attention, so deperately, of the older boy next door has been pretty funny to observe. Just wait until I really blow her socks off- he may do some babysitting for me this Spring and Summer- and then he'll be in OUR HOUSE- OMG!