Milestone Minutiae

Emmett loves make believe. He frequently plays with imaginary objects (so far no imaginary friends, as far as I can tell). Usually, it's buttons, leaves, a snail, a caterpillar, or a butterfly. Once in a while, instead of having nothing in his hands, he'll have a little piece of pinecone or whatnot and you'll wonder for a moment if he really does have a snail. It's lots of fun when he brings you imaginary things. Sometimes I'll put them on my shoulder (he'll usually get mad if you put them down on a table). Occasionally I'll pretend to eat them - this usually gets quite a reaction from Emmett and he'll make me spit it out. Once we both spent a while watching imaginary butterflies as they flew around the room. David noticed that Emmett really keeps track of imaginary things. A few days ago, David stole Emmett's nose and put it down on the couch. Emmett demanded that David put it back on his face and wasn't satisfied until David picked it

A few days ago in a parking lot, Emmett looked at the a tire on another car and said "That says Firestone." Then he pointed at one of our tires and said "That says Firestone, too." Now, to be fair, Emmett and I spent nearly three hours stuck in and around a Firestone service center recently, getting a tire on the van fixed. And the word "Firestone" on the tires is written in a distinctive font. But he is showing lots of interest in words, letters, and the sounds they make. We'll see how soon he actually reads...

Last week after racing slot cars against David, Emmett invented this song: (to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat) Drive, drive, drive your car gently down the track. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a back.

Yesterday while Emmett and I waited for the van's tire to be fixed, Emmett made up a game. We sat with one empty chair between us and slid quarters back and forth to each other. According to Emmett, this game was called "A Mickey Game." Emmett was Mickey and I was Goofy. I told him he was Goofy, because he was the goofiest. A bit later Emmett said "I'm Mickey because I'm the Mickiest!" ... Emmett has new slippers that have monster faces on them. I asked him if he wanted to name them. He seemed to be having trouble thinking of a name, so I suggested Sally for the left slipper. He picked Emmett for the right slipper. He actually remembers which is which -- when I put Sally on first earlier today, he made me take both slippers off because he wanted me to put Emmett on first! Sometimes, he asks me to pet them. And sometimes he pets them, too. ... Yesterday David, Emmett, and I were all singing and playing instruments in Emmett's room. Emmett