Yesterday after snack Esther started pointing into the living room and saying, "There's the choo-choo train, Mommy!" She was grinning and clearly playing make-believe. So I decided to humor her and go "ride" the train. I thought she must be talking about some object in the living room that looked something like a train to her. The following conversation ensued:
Mommy: Is this the train?
Esther: No, that's my shopping cart.
Mommy: Is this the train?
Esther: No, that's the couch.
Mommy: Is this the train?
Esther: No, that's the laundry basket.
Mommy: Is this the train?
Esther (giggling by now): No, that's my tent!
Mommy (running out of potential trains): Then where is the train?
Esther (solemnly): The train left already.
(Then she added, "Go chase it, Mommy!")
Later in the day we were looking through an activity book, where one of the activities was to circle the objects that could be used in a garden. I asked Esther what I should circle, and she first pointed to the rake. The second object that she picked out was a paintbrush. I asked her what one could do with a paintbrush in a garden and she said (very seriously), "Good question! I don't know!"
