Thursday, August 6, 2009

Imagination Station

So I am spending a lot of time this summer listening to my girls play. And I love to hear their imaginations at work.


{cue wavy, squiggly lines and flashback music}

... I am 6 and playing Partridge Family in Barbara Nappy's garage.- I always had to be Keith. She always got to be Laurie because she had long , straight hair. We were trapped in an abandonded mining town on our way to a performance at a retirement home and we'd sing "Point Me (in the direction of Albuquerque)" and if I was lucky, I'd get to strum the broom guitar or jangle the beach-pail full-of-shells tambourine...but she always got be the cool girl and I always had to be the guy. Or worse - I'd have to be Ruben.


{end scene}

The little one has always created scenarios by which the Polly Pockets or dinasaurs or combination of both are in perilous situations; dangling over a precipice or walking a plank...She loves to construct and build and has many things like Lego's and magnet thingies and TinkerToys and Ello's. She seems oblivious to the fact that anyone is listening because she uses her regular squeaky voice and doesn't play in a whispery tone. I love that about her. And when one of the little creatures is hanging upsidedown from a string attached to a make-shift 'yardarm' held fast by a two pillows resting on a blanket covering a table surrounded by a vast network of Lego's and buildy things., she uses a particularly higher pitched squeaky voice that only dophins and dogs can hear. If I stop and look at her, she stops - no she jumps as if she was busted with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. I have tried to capture this on film ...but she is not a mugger for the camera like her big sister.

When the big one and the little one get together , it plays like a scene from any number of Disney channel tweener shows. She and the little one play Barbies or whatever and recreate the characters. When they play they always start the dialogue with "pretend you said blah,blah, blah" or "pretend you said yada, yada" and then they say whatever it is they were pretending to say. I say to them " Just say what your character is going to say...you don't have to say "pretend " first. Just do it.


{{cue more Flashback music and squiggly , wavy lines}}

Playing with Jodi in my room. We played "I Dream Of Genie" -( 'cuz we couldn't twitch our noses like Samantha and Tabitha and it's just as well, because if we did...she'd always be Samantha and I would always have to be Serena, the evil twin cousin ), because we could cross our arms and "Boiing" and jump from twin bed to twin bed and tuck our shirts up and put jewels in our bellies. Jodi had long blonde hair so naturally she was always Jeannie and I, with my dark hair had to be the evil sister, Jeaney , who was always trying to steal the 'real Master' away from her.

We didn't say 'pretend Major Nelson is trapped in the bottle by evil twin sister and Jeannie has to figure out a way to get him out. We just did it. Major Nelson was trapped in the bottle...We didn't say "pretend you say 'Oh Master and you Boi-yoi-yoing him out.' We just Boi-yoi-yoinged him out, then would make-out with our pillows and....

{{ end scene}}

I don't get what happened to imaginations. Are kids these days so overloaded with media that they can't just play without writing an entire screenplay complete with script and stage direction? Just yesterday they made their own Vlog -That they even know what the hell it is is mind boggling. But there was an episode of Suite Life (on Disney channel of course) where some one had a webcast, so it goes without saying that they is how they came up with the idea. I usually wouldn't do this because they use real names and if this winds up on some Craig's list adoption site or something I'll hunt you down- but here it is. Eat your heart out Nancy Grace.

Almost live and almost in person on the their own Imagination Station.

And they didn't say "Pretend" once. They just did it.



20 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh, your girls are too cute!! Loved their news show!

And yes, a squeaky voice is essential for imaginary play.

Aunt Becky said...

Ben was born mostly without an imagination and it makes me so sad. Because that's all that I ever DID: imagine cool stuff happening with my toys.

Justine said...

OMG, this was fantastic! This is the Goldstein news!!!! I loved it! They're adorable and have a GREAT sense of imagination. I love how they showed Florida with hurricanes and stormy weather. You're very right girls!

So, is uncle Steven there?

And btw... at least you were the hot guy from the Partridge Family!

Justine :o 0

Jodi said...

That was great. They both did a most excellent job. I loved Emily's obvious pause to think about what she was going to say next.
Is it queer to feel honored that I made it into you blog??

Cristin said...

I couldn't listen to the video....it would disturb hub's tv viewing....

but the imagination thing... Graham has none... never pretends, I think there is something wrong with him...(duh...)

Dottie on the other hand lives in a very cool imaginary world full of talking animals who are always in trouble and need her to save them....

Susan said...

That is so great!! Good luck on the red eye, hope Grandma is okay... and by the way, I can now relate to West Coast sunny weather EVERY DAY... two weeks of full sun in the forecase while I was there training... no breaks... 7am til late night study halls. I was so tired I never left the hotel pool during my free weekend! Glad to be back catching up in the blog world!

Ash said...

How stinkin' adorable is that!? I hope you put this in a fireproof vault somewhere - perfect for Rehearsal Dinner viewing! I do take a little offense to the bashing of Florida though. It's not that bad, well, every day.

(Since I was the youngest on the block, I always had to play Spridel or Chim Chim in the trunk for Speed Racer reenactments. I'm surprised I don't need more therapy.)

JenJen said...

I have oft wondered how you spell that noise Jeannie's eyes made when she blinked, and I think you nailed it!
And, the other drawback to pretending to be Samantha is that you have to scrunch up your features, and no one can look as suave as she did.
Sigh.

Lula! said...

Your girls are AMAZING.

So is Nancy Grace. I mean, if something ever happened to any of our children (GOD FORBID!), I'd want her screeching and passionate self on my side.

Wineplz said...

I love listening to Gavin play with his toys, too. He has common themes where one character or another is in peril, or has to eat spaghetti squash or else forgo their ice cream. Cooper has just recently began to pretend with his toys. I can't wait to continue watching both of them because it is pretty entertaining.

Unknown said...

So very cute! I love when kids use their imaginations to play instead of relying on store bought stuff.

I'm new to your blog and love it!

Trooper Thorn said...

That is my favorite Partridge Family episode. John Astin was great and creepy.

Mariah said...

Imaginations... LOVE THEM! Love listening to the kids and all of their 'talks'

I think I may need to go record the partridge family now

The Nice One said...

How sweet. I absolutely ADORE listening (I'm not allowed to watch or play) to my daughter and friends play Barbies. It's so crazy creative. Much more so than the video games her brother adores (yuck)

for a different kind of girl said...

I loved their newscast, especially their little editorial tidbits tossed in!

I do think there's something to be said for media influx when it comes to kids' imaginations today. When I was a kid, we made up stories and played them. For several weeks one summer, for instance, my best friend and I were actually aliens inhabiting the bodies of pre-teen girls and we were on Earth to study the habits of my friends gross younger brother. From time to time, we also staged productions of Grease in my patio...so sure, some media influence, but still!

Today, my boys' play tends to focus on what they just watched on some WWE program or saw online.

Anonymous said...

That was adorable!!!

We used to say "let's pretend" all the time! you never did? I don't know why we did but we did. :)

Scary Mommy said...

I love them!!!! My brother and I used to do the same thing when we were that age. :)

bejewell said...

Back in "the day," my friend Stacy and I would station ourselves behind her bed-slash-anchor desk and record ourselves reading the news (that we made up). But this was long before the day of the VLOG so we just used audio cassettes to record ourselves, and I SWEAR TO GOD I found one of those tapes about a month ago cleaning out the garage and it was absolutely ridiculous. But also funny. And kind of sweet. Lead story: Simon le Bon from Duran Duran getting married -- to our very own news anchor BEEJ!! Congratulations, BEEJ! At which point I blushed (I swear you could hear the blushing on the tape) and shyly said thank you, yes, we are very happy.

P.S. Your girls are gorgeous. And smart. And I LOVE the weather report being given in a princess costume.

Mike said...

I think a couple of stars have been born. Can we talk contracts?

Heather said...

My girls do that too!! "Pretend you say..." I love it!