Pretend

I am fascinated with how children learn. How do they learn to pretend? Just this week, Sammy has begun pretending various situations when he plays. He tells me he is driving his car to Baby Amanda's house or that he is going to buy groceries, "but just pretend." Last night I went to his room at 10:00 to tell him that he really needed to go to sleep. He had been in bed for 1 1/2 hours, but I had been hearing noises from his room, so I knew he was still awake. He told me that his little bear was hungry and he was feeding him ice cream and corn. I told him the bear had probably had enough and was ready to sleep. No, the bear needed breakfast. What? French toast and syrup, of course. He likes that because it is sweet. I thought the bear should wait until morning for breakfast, but Sammy insisted he needed it then, "but just pretend."

How did he learn this? Obviously I taught him the word pretend, but only to help him describe what he was already doing. My husband says that Sammy would grow up on auto-pilot if we weren't around. I know that is not true, but I am amazed at the things he learns with no help from me. It is just one more way I see the hand of God on my children. He is molding them and teaching them, sometimes through me, sometimes independent of me, and I'm sure sometimes in spite of me. It's just a miracle to watch.