Daniel's pretend play

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 18 May 2009 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

We had bought these random Superman and Batman costumes for the kids eons ago and chucked them in the closet. It was only 2 weeks ago that I unearthed them, to the absolute delight of Daniel & Benjamin. Dan has decided he prefers being Batman and Benjamn is of course more than happy to be Superman (who wouldn't be?). So every once in a while, the kids will ask to wear their costumes. These days, Dan will disappear surreptitously and then reappear in costume to the chortly delight of his younger sibling.

Anyway, the real point of this post is that Daniel's pretend play has really been blooming and it's been a real joy to see. I alluded to it in this post a few days ago and it's really been growing. Today was the most interesting day yet, with Daniel decided he wanted a baby! He named the baby "Baby Glen" (hmm....!)--it was actually his stuffed dog Daisy. And he "fed" "Baby Glen" "rice" (a plastic block). He even held the baby in the cradle position, burped him and put him to sleep very lovingly, pulling a warm blanket over the baby. Then, the story continued.... Baby Glen woke from his nap and had to eat again. Then, he fell sick and had to be brought to an ambulance. At the hospital, Dan became the doctor and Baby Glen recovered and then wanted to have a picnic. So, Dan cooked for Baby Glen, and by then, all of his stuffed toys were also babies, and very hungry, so there was a lot of cooking to do. He baked bread, cake, cut fruits and poured juice. And fed all the "babies". Then he gave Baby Glen a bath....

All of this... while in superhero costume!

The maternal instinct exhibited here is really quite out of the ordinary. Not too long ago, these were the kids the preferred to "taupok" each other on the bed and run around the house scaring each other with masks and ugly faces yelling "So scary so scary!" Oh wait, that was yesterday. Ha. I actually think they STILL prefer that, but the gentle quiet play witnessed today was really quite a refreshing change.
^__^