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Friday, October 08, 2004 ( 3:10 PM ) Liam's Log is now closed. For new entries join me at Narrating kayoz. Monday, August 16, 2004 ( 8:44 AM ) Today's imaginary play highlight: Liam decided that our little indoor watering can was a washing machine. So he started washing things in it. A teatowel, a face washer, a scarf... each time the game would get a little more elborate. First he was just washing the scarf in the watering can, then took it out, pronouncing it to be 'all wet now' and hung it up on the (actual) drying rack. Next he started calling the watering can a washing machine, turning it 'around and around' with the item in side. Next item he put the imaginary lid down and took the can off to the 'laundry' (around the corner in the living room), and left it 'for a while'. He went back, turned it around some more ("The spray rinse," he explained) then pulled the tea towel out. "It's all wet now," he said shaking it out. And hung it up to dry. Next (another tea towel), repeat all steps as before, up to but not including the spray rinse. "It needs some more water," he says, and takes the watering can over to the cat scratcher to fill up. Then back to the laundry for the spray rinse, shake it out, and hang out to try. At that point I ran out of things that I was happy to have washed in a dusty old watering can, so we moved on to something else, but I'm sure he would have kept going for quite a while. Wednesday, June 16, 2004 ( 1:49 PM ) "Zhoom, zhoom, zhoom," says Liam as he swoops his plastic bowl above the bath water. "It's an aeroplane," he tells me, "Zhoom, zhoom. Now it's a spaceship." Swoop, swoop, swoop. It amazes me the sorts of make believe games Liam comes up with these days. Some are clearly learned from watching TV or from other kids and parents at play group - like when he wrapped his arms around himself the other day and said he was a caterpiller. I think that was something they did on Play School recently. But other things are totally him. Another example: A few nights ago he decided he was a bird, and wanted to climb into the laundry basket full of clean clothes. Actually, I think he wanted to climb in first, deciding he was a bird and it was his nest was just the rationale. But I didn't want him to climb into the clean clothes, so I made him a nest on the couch. He climbed up into it and then pointed to his bunny rabbit. "He's a bunny-bird," Liam explained to me. This ability to decide that a thing will be something else is wonderful I think. He doesn't need everything to be just right or to have heaps of different complicated toys, he can pretend. It so impresses me, and reinforces the idea that really specific toys are not as great as the toy companies would have us believe - they just can't encourage creativity in the way more simple toys can. Sunday, May 30, 2004 ( 12:02 PM ) Last night Liam decided he was a bird, and needed a nest to sit in. I dissuaded him from sitting in the basket of clean clothes, by helping him to make a nest on the couch. He quickly saw the advantages of this rather larger nest, and decided to add to it. "Little hoot's a bird, he could come in the nest too," I said, in response to his command that I pass him his toy owl. Okay, that made sense, but next he wanted me to pass him his toy rabbit. "Bunny-bird," he explained. Then there was tiger-bird, bear-bird, piglet-bird... At one stage, since Liam was flapping his 'wings' I flapped mine too. But: "Mummy's not a bird," he said "Ee's a mummy." (Liam uses 'ee' instead of he or she, most of the time.) I hadn't seen Liam play this way before. He uses his imagination plenty, but to specifically decide that something he knew to be a rabbit would now be a bird, that sort of thing's new. And the other interesting thing about this is that he's become very didactic lately. He might say, for instance, that an owl is an owl, but not a bird. Or, a real example, he has a bear that looks a bit dog-like, so this week he told me that it is not a bear, it is a dog. I had interpreted his sort of thing as simply misunderstanding. Now I wonder if it isn't actually deliberate creativity. Wednesday, May 19, 2004 ( 7:30 PM ) From an email to my best friend, who we visited in the States earlier this year, and whose son, J, liked to sing the Lion King song, a LOT. This morning Liam was 'singing' the Lion King song (the bits of it he remembers), which he does fairly often, encouraged by the frequency with which we see bits of it on video in various stores, or just posters advertising the DVD. The out of the blue he said he wanted to go to J's house. He hasn't said that in a while now. I told him I wanted to go to... Then after a bit he came out with wanting to get J's lawn mower "wheel go round and round inside" he said. ( 6:44 PM ) Check it out, for the first time in ages (probably since I started having papers due, around Easter time) Liam is really excited that Chris just got home from work, and told me to 'go way mummy'. Hence, I get to sit in here and type. : ) Admittedly, Chris was home late from work (didn't get here till 6:30), but I think maybe the extra effort I've been making to have some really focused time with him on our days together might be part of it too. We didn't go to play group today, and last Thursday-Friday we didn't have any visitors or visits - we did get out for a walk and play at the park each day (and today too) but that's it. Anyway, it's made all concerned very happy, because lately Liam's been telling Chris to go away a lot, and telling me not to go to work ("No mummy go to work, Daddy go to work" he said yesterday morning, and the day before too), and generally behaving as though he hasn't been seeing enough of me. His propensity to use a lot of the words 'no' and 'don't' might have something to do with that too I think, although he's also definitely going through an independence thing generally?wanting to climb into and out of the car seat himself and so on. Thursday, May 13, 2004 ( 12:55 PM ) Liam, two years old. Just a photo, for the record. I took it this morning while he was 'painting' with water, on the back deck.
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