Imagine

I love to imagine what my girls will be like in 20 years. I wonder if they will be business women or stay at home moms. Will they love what they do, or dread work each day. I pray that they're happy and that their life's work gives them fulfillment. I love to imagine them as young adult women, strong and independent yet compassionate and giving.

When I'm imagining, I do try to narrow my focus to 20 or more years ahead. Any less than that and I'm basically imagining teenage girls. Two of them. In my house at the same time. That thought makes me want to run far, far away. So in order to stay in my happy place, I will stick to imagining 20 + years in the future.

Speaking of imagining, Lauryn has one of the most fun, creative imaginations I've ever seen in a 3 year old. Since she is my first child, maybe that's not saying a whole lot. But I really honestly do think she's pretty creative, all bragging aside. I finally started taking pictures of her creativity as I saw it displayed around the house. I never want to forget this stage in her life when she's just as happy as she can be playing by herself with a stuffed bear or a paper box. And again, try not to think ahead to a time when when she will wander aimlessly around the house complaining about how there's nothing to do and all her friends get to go to the mall by themselves and if I loved her I would let her ride in a strange car with 8 of her friends to a stranger's house to attend a party of a stranger whose parents are not at home. Ooooooh, I need to find my happy place!

Ok, so here are some fun pictures of Lauryn's imagination at work. These were all taken randomly at some point within the last 6 months or so. Unfortunately I didn't think to date them.

One afternoon I was on the computer (no doubt doing something of extreme importance). A few minutes later I found this creation next to the front door. It is clearly her computer, wrist rest and all. I especially love the extra-wide monitor for easy viewing. She left it up for a couple of days, informing me each morning that she needed to check her email.

Here we have more boxes. (We were in the process of moving in case you hadn't noticed!) I came out of the bedroom to find this train in the hallway. Every doll, stuffed animal, and plastic object in her bedroom is accounted for. Cinderella is the conductor. Hopefully she is just taking a short nap before continuing on with the trip, and not conducting under the influence.

Just before bedtime, we read a story every night. This is Lauryn's bear. You won't find it too far away from her at any given moment. She dresses it for the day, and changes it into pajamas at night (complete with diaper). When I found her doing this, of course I had to ask what the hat was for. She didn't even look up from her book when she answered that it was to "protect Allison from bugs". How silly of me. And so you know, the bear is also named Allison. (We don't want to waste too much of that creativity if we don't have to.)

Finally, this is the most recent. My mom actually got this dog for her when we were visiting them yesterday. It came complete with a carrier, bowl, bone, and various grooming essentials. She LOVES it and it is already threatening Allison Bear's status as her toy of choice. So I walked into the laundry room to find Little Daisy eating in the most appropriate of places. And yes, Daisy is the name of my parents' dog. Hey, if it ain't broke...