Joseph's imagination

Joseph's imagination has really taken off. All day long he is pretending. He loves to be read to and all the time we're not reading to him, he is acting out the last book he heard. This morning he spent a good deal of time being "Sal." First he took off his socks and shoes, then he dug some clams, then he found a baby clam and threw it back in. Then he found a big clam and asked me to break it open for him. Sometimes "Sal" also offers me an ice cream cone or requests clam chowder for lunch. Anyone know what book we've been reading, lately?

The picture above is from a slightly less-well-known book, "Lentil" by Robert McCloskey. That book features a boy (Lentil) who plays the harmonica. Fortunately, Joseph owns a harmonica, so pretending to be Lentil isn't too much of a stretch. This morning, he decided to act out scene involving a whole marching band. The yogurt container is his "tuba hat," but I guess he couldn't find a boy big enough to serve as a tuba, so he settled, instead, on being a piccolo player.

Then there's Margaret who, today, is teething and very sad. Lately, though, she's been a bundle of giggles and fun. Quite a change from her former serious self. She has really gotten into peek-a-boo. When I'm reading on the couch she stands below me and peeks around one side of my book. Then she runs around my knees to the other side of the book and peeks around that edge. This goes one for quite awhile. Joseph has only just barely stopped thinking peek-a-boo is funny, and I think the fun has been resurrected by Margaret. I had trouble getting a good picture because the camera distracted them from their game, but Margaret was playing peek-a-boo with Joseph around his highchair yesterday. They were both shrieking with laughter and having a great time. Fun kids.