Imagination Station

I distinctly remember having a big imagination as a child.  I could entertain myself for hours by entertaining my imaginary friends, Make-up (my sisters were teens then and I loved their make-up) and Jacob (who, in my 4 year old mind, rhymed with make-up).    I'm a good 6 years behind my sisters, so the imaginary friends kept me company more times than I'd care to admit, and for more years than...nevermind.  I also had 20+ Cabbage Patch dolls who all had first and middle names, and dozens of stuffed animals.  Every night they ALL wound up on my bed...er....the boat/orphanage that would save them from evil Jacob.  Not to mention the booby traps I set up in case Jacob tried to climb aboard my boat. I know these booby traps were effective, because  I shared the room with my dad's closet and desk, and he often came in to get something off the desk after I was in bed...he never knew what hit him, literally. 

Anyway, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that my daughter Linsey sees things from her own very unique perspective, and that she is very vocal about that perspective.

Example #1: Dreams

 She constantly wakes up and bounces into our room (after there's an 8, of course), telling us about her dream.  The other day she woke up and said, "You know what?  Last night, I dreamed I was jumping on the trampoline.  And I jumped and I jumped so high, I jumped right up to heaven and said, "Hi, God!"  and then I fell back down."  

Curious, I asked her, "And did God say anything to you?"  "Yes. He had this really deep voice and He said, "Hi, Linsey!" (imitating God's voice) And that was one of the more exciting ones...

Example #2:  Improvising known words and phrases

L:  "Mo-om!  I killed Hannah on the video game.  She's dead."  

Me:  "I don't like you saying you killed your sister."  

L:  "But I did!  I killed her guy."  

Me:  "I don't like you saying that."  

L:  "Okay...Mo-om, I knocked Hannah's batteries out of her and now she's dead!" 

(Truthfully, I don't know which one said that first.  Recently when they were play wrestling, Hannah sprawled on the floor and yelled to me, "Mom!  Help, I'm dead!  I need new batteries!")

Then the other day, I called her into her room to help me clean it.  Her response?  "Just a minute, Mom, I've got to text my friend!"  No more fake cell phones for this one...

Example #3:  Pretend games

She constantly makes up her own songs and wants me to accompany her on the piano as she's singing them.  This gets irritating as sometimes she corrects me and says very coolly, "Mom, that's not how it goes."  So today I corrected her very coolly, "Linsey, that's not how it goes.  God is NOT a sinner."  

Some of her games she thinks are original, but they're really not.  I'm often asked, "Mom, let's play pretend!  You can be the mom with a bunch of kids!"  or, "You be the mama, and me and Hannah will be sisters and you can tell us what to do!"  Yeah, not so original...but she's also the only one who has ever said to me, "Mom!  Let's play pretend.  You're Barbie, and I'll be your little sister!"  Not someone I'm often mistaken for, but sure, why not?

Then the other day it was a role reversal game she wanted to play.  "Please, can I be the mom for a couple of days?  I promise, no cooking for me, and no driving!"  

But really, I think she wants to be a preacher like her daddy.  After I was done telling Hannah not to call people 'dumb' (at Linsey's 'request', I might add), Linsey continued my lecture with a sermon of her own:  "And don't put your hands around someone else's neck.  AND don't smash people's faces in the floor like you did to me last night.  Those are all bad things, Hannah, and yesterday we talked about sin." 

Hannah (in a squeaky voice):  "Sin?"

Linsey (nodding solemnly): "Sin."

At which time Hannah conveniently changed the subject by breaking out into a rousing tune of "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and running out of the room... which is really too bad, because I'd have loved to hear the altar call on that one.  Maybe I'd even play the piano for it :)