Acting it all out

I am pleased to see that Seren has developed a love of drama. We haven't yet taken her to a play but I have a feeling that she will love it. The reason why I think Seren will enjoy theater? She is acting out the pictures in her books.

Books and Seren have had a tedious relationship- as the pages in the books will attest. The first few months, the books were essentially chew toys. And then they were actual books- in that Mom and Dad read them to Seren. Then, around 15 months, she couldn't care less about them. Now, they are back in center stage. She carries them around and sits down to read them. One night last week, Seren was reading in the kitchen while Sam and I cooked dinner. We sat down to dinner in the dining room. Seren was still reading. We called to her, "Dinner!" No response. We finally had to go retrieve our little reader.

Last night, she refused to let go of "The Going to Bed Book". She held it close to her chest as she fell asleep on me. I pried it out of her hand as I placed her in her crib.

But all of this "love of books" aside, she is actually acting out the stories now. It is a riot! We aren't even reading to her and she'll flip open a page and do what the pictures are demonstrating. One book, there is a girl clapping, so, when Seren gets to that page, she claps. Another book has a picture of a boy scratching his head while he "thinks". Seren too scratches her head. Still yet a third has a picture of a doggy. She "woofs" and sticks out her tongue. Then there is the Curious George book of opposites. "Down" "up" "Forward" "Backward". Seren will squat down, then stand up, then walk forward and backward. I find myself looking at her thinking, "What the heck is she doing?" All of this is unprompted by us.

I love it! I love this age. I think I've loved every age but this "acting" is really a riot.