"I'm under the sea"

Katie's new favorite game is to make a tent, whether out of the couch cushions or a blanket. The past 2 weeks she asks me to "make a tent" before she goes to sleep using this sea themed comforter I've had since college. She put it all together recently and said to me, "Mommy, I'm under the sea. I'm Ariel." As I've explained before, we're not too big on princesses, but if she gets excited about her Ariel panties and wants to play like her, that's fine.

Katie's imagination is so active and it's so wonderful to see. At any time she could be hiding in a tent, comforting her baby who is crying, or pretending to talk on the phone with Robin - and sometimes all of these at once. It's interesting to me because most of her play is very reality-based. Maybe she doesn't know about them yet, but there are no fairies and no magic potions. Her stuffed animals and babies are her muses and we are her audience. While we were out yesterday, she told me what was going on with one of her favorite stuffed puppies, "Brother's sad because he misses me."

Oh, in case anyone is worried about her still being in a crib. Yes, she can get out and in but she never does. She's looking forward to getting a "big girl bed" but we're not looking forward to buying one because it means that we'll have to figure out how to get the crib to storage in NJ. And lately Katie hasn't been falling asleep very easily so we're okay with putting this off a little while longer.