Pretend

I know I have mentioned this before... but Ella really really loves pretend play.  I feel like it is such a big part of her life, that it deserves its own blog post.  She does it almost all day long.  Luckily I watch a little girl every afternoon who is Ella's age, who loves pretend play just as much (I have a feeling that most little girls this age are like this).  She hasn't come over the last couple of days, though, and Isaac has been forced to play the role of the boy from Tangled a few times - I'm pretty sure he has no idea that he is playing that part, but Ella seems to be satisfied enough.

Her favorite relationships to portray are prince/princess, and mother/father/"sweetheart" (child).  The other day we were watching the BYU basketball game (because who can have a connection to BYU and not watch Jimmer?!) and Ella looked at the players and said "Do all of those daddy's have sweethearts?"  Translation: Do all of those men have children?  To her, every grown man is a dad... and a child is either a "sweetheart" or a "honey."

Sometimes I will walk into a room and find evidence of her pretend play.  Here are some things that I have found in the last week:

After Craig and I tucked her into bed, we went into the computer room and found this on the bookcase.  Apparently she had been busy tucking her "sweethearts" into bed too.

A couple of days ago, I walked into the living room to find this.  Ella explained to me that she set up those barriers around the elephant family to protect them from the Big Bad Wolf.

And as I was writing this blog post, Ella tucked some more of her "honey's" into bed.  She even gave them blankets to match!

Children have such great imaginations!