Embracing Mom and Imaginary Friends

My mom came to visit last week and sadly I did a terrible job of documenting her stay. In fact the picture below from our trek at Fort Foster are the only pictures I have to show for a wonderful, if too short, visit. Part of my lack of photographs owes to the fact that Remick boycotted sleep for a while last week (perhaps due to a little dabbling in regular coffee) and there were days that I was completely exhausted. But, we did have an absolutely terrific visit and can't wait to see her again.

One thing I love about seeing my mom is that she always reminds me of something I ought to be doing with my kids, just by modeling behaviors for me. I remember when Makili was a baby, my mom came to visit, and my mom would read him books with baby faces in it. She would point out all the features of the baby's faces, and I remember thinking to myself, "I should be doing that."

On this visit, my mom really impressed on me how much I need to ramp up the pretend play. She spent countless hours with Makili on the floor, racing the police car after Lightning McQueen, giving him tickets. Makili LOVED this. He would beg her, "Give Lightning McQueen another ticket." My mom would indulge every time telling him over and over that he was driving too fast, and it wasn't safe, etc.

This week, Lightning McQueen came to visit us. He pooped on the potty and Makili wiped his bum. He went with us to music class and we all sang "Hello to Lightning, so glad to see you." He played in the road and had to get yelled at (per Makili's request) many times. Makili held his hand in the road. The two of them would take naps together. Every once in a while, Makili would ask, "We're pretending Lightning McQueen is here?" I think he was just checking to make sure I didn't actually thing he was there. In any case, this was certainly a developmental step Makili was waiting for. Thanks Mom.