Pretending

You know how there is usually a suggested age range on the packaging of a toy? You know, it says "Not recommended for Children under 3" or maybe "3 yrs. +". Well, as a parent, which I know many of you are, it is easy to see that and think, "Yeah...but my kid can figure it out." ...even if they're two years below the recommended age range.

So, I've learned this the hard way....more than once. Will I ever learn? Let's hope.

When Clinton's first Christmas arrived, he was a mere 10 months old. Shopping for him was both fun and hard. Fun-- because it's just fun to shop for kids....hard-- because all the cool stuff was recommended for the older age group.

However, I came across this Cranium fort building set on the clearance rack. It was like an $80 set on clearance for $15. I originally bought it for our 3 year old niece because the packaging said "3+". But the more I thought about it, the more I thought Clinton might really like it better. So, I bought our neice something else and gave Clinton the fort building set. Hmmmm...

That first Christmas we tried building him things out of the set, but all he wanted to do was bite chunks out of the foam posts. So, after a while I gave up, boxed it up, and put it in the attic.

A few months later after he turned 1, I naively thought he was then ready. All he wanted to do was knock down my creations and tear everything apart. So, after a while I gave up, boxed it up, and put it in the attic.

When he was 2, I decided he was definitely ready. But this time he used the foam posts to try to pulverize me and threw the hard, plastic connectors at my head as he laughed his head off. So, after a while I gave up, boxed it up, and put it in the attic.

The other day we were needing something fun, exciting, and NEW to do because it was freezing outside....in April. So, thinking to myself, "He's 3....the package says 3+....surely he's ready!", I climbed into the attic and pulled out the toy once again.

I began the play time with little expectations, just hopefulness. Hopeful that he would get it. Hopeful that he would enjoy it. Hopeful that if he can't be ahead of the age recommendations, at least he's not falling behind them!

It turned out wonderful!! Even Heidi Sage loved it. She only bit a couple of chunks out of the foam pieces. Both kids loved all of the creations we put together. We built a castle, a pirate ship, a space ship, a race car, and a club house. We played pretend for at least 2 hours....both kids thoroughly entertained.

Here is our pirate ship. Clinton would yell to me, "C'mon captain! Dwive da ship!" I'd climb in and we'd set off on an adventure. We pretended HS was a big whale. Every time she got close, Clinton would scream, which would send HS into hysterical laughter and then she'd run off.

Our castle was equally fun. Clinton pretended to be the scary dragon and left HS as the frantic princess running about. Every time she would get close he would ROAR!!! and breathe fire at her. She would squeal and laugh and run off.

Clinton's favorite was the race car. One of his best friends is Lightning McQueen. He often calls Lightning on his cell phone (which is a Lightning phone). Not a days goes by that Clinton does have all 247 die cast cars from the movie out all over the floor to play with. And Clinton always screams out Lightning's name anytime the Rascall Flatt's version of "Life is a Highway" come on the radio. So, the race car was a hit. He had to drive it. He had to work on the engine. And he had to change the "fwat" tires.

After a few days of fun, I boxed it back up and put it back in the attic so it would be new and fun the next time it found its way back to the playroom!

Wondering if the days of pillow forts have passed us by,