Real Oats

While Travis is away at school, he leaves Olivia in charge of his animals. He has a bear, a dog and horses. His imaginary horse, Bullseye, now has a body and is tied up to his bed. Olivia has "pups" and today I asked her if she needed to feed her "pups", just trying to encourage her imagination. I asked her what she was going to feed them and, of course, she said dog food. Then she said she needed to feed Travis's horses. She asked me where the oats were, and I said, "Under Travis's bed." I meant the pretend oats, but no, Olivia's imagination stops there. She wants to feed the pretend horses real oats and proceeds to pull the box of food storage out from under Travis's bed. (Where do you keep your food storage?) I hear her calling, "Mom, I need a little help here!" I check to see what help she could possibly need... What? Are the horses getting out of hand or did one of them bite her? No. She needs help getting the real oats. By-the-way, the box contains rice, pinto beans and powdered milk. No oats. Now what? Johnny and I suggest feeding the pretend horses pretend oats- like from the bucket of blocks or a basket or something. She wouldn't have it. Johnny says, "But Olivia, the horses are pretend, so they should eat pretend oats. We can't give them real oats- it would just make a mess on the floor." She says, "No, I don't want to pretend. We have to get some real oats" and then she lays on her bed sulking.

I love their imaginations!