"Everything you can imagine is real" ~ Pablo Picasso

Nora's imagination has flourished the past couple months and it's so fun to watch her play:)

We've seen her pretend the following:

• Story Time Leader - Nora and I try to get to story time at ABC Toy Zone when we can and she loves story time with Peter.  He sings a few songs and reads a few stories, then always closes with Nora's favorite: Baby Beluga, a book/song.  Recently at home, she has been gathering a few books, sitting in her little chair, and conducting her own story time.  She will also ask me to have story time with her which results in me sitting in her little chair to read/sing to her (with book facing out like Peter does so all the kids can see).
• Going to Work - Nora carries her purse (actually one of my currently unused purses) and says she needs kisses bye bye.  
• Exercising - She pretends to exercise next to use when we stretch or do exercises at home.  
• Bear as Baby - Nora's favorite bear plays many roles in her life.  He is truly her constant companion.  She often pretends bear is her baby and feeds him with play utensils, gives him drinks from her sippy cup, and snuggles him while cooing "aww, bear bear" (as she often talks to babies).  Nora also has a shopping cart that she puts bear in as baby and pushes him around saying she is going shopping.
• Stuffed Animals on Walks - Nora got a double, toy stroller for a gift last year and she likes to walk around the room with multiple stuffed animals in her stroller saying she's going on a walk.
• Video Games - We have two remotes for our Xbox and we give Nora one remote without batteries so she can pretend to play along while Luke plays.  This works out great until someone else wants to play with Luke...
• Computer - Nora likes to sit on our laps while we're at the computer and she taps away at the keyboard acting like she's typing.
• Telephone - She has a play cell phone that she walks around with chatting to Papa and Gma or anyone else she thinks of.

All of these are very cute, but her imagination has also caused some troubles at bed time.  She's developed a fear of the dark and has had a difficult time getting to sleep.  She used to sleep with her door closed and didn't care about having a night light.  Now she sleeps with the door open, the hall light on, a night light in her room, and wants one of us on the same floor as her while she falls asleep.  In addition to her fears at night, she regularly tells us she's scared if she is startled (like when I walk in from the garage to the entryway and she wasn't expecting it) or by loud noises (think hairdryer, vacuum, power tool, faucet running into the tub while she's in it).  

If "everything you can imagine is real", then Nora's fun and fears are both real so we're working on being patient with her fears to help her feel safe and comfortable going to bed.  Hopefully, though, the fear will be a short lived phase and she can have fun with her imagination in play:)