Pupa

Matt and I: What does a caterpillar turn into?
Roman: A pupa.
Matt and I: What does a pupa turn into?
Roman: A butterfly.

Me: What is the capital of Iraq?
Roman: Daddy in a bag.

About a month ago Roman started calling me an elephant and he is a mouse. We did elephant and mousy things together for several days. One night he was quite distressed that I was not helping Matt put him to bed. He was holding on to me yelling, "Elephant do it!"

Matt swooped in and said, "I am the rhinoceros, and I am going to put the mouse to bed." Roman's face changed quickly from shock to delight.

Since that night Roman has taken it upon himself to give an animal identity to each person that visits our home. Kevin is an alligator, Dawnielle is an octopus. Jess was offered cow, then pig, but was able to settle in on moose. My brother David is a yak, his lovely bride a giraffe (it must be Cherice's great height). I can think of at least 7 other people with distinct animal identities.

Roman may play with several different pretend identities throughout the day. His current favorite is to be Santa Claus while the rest of us become reindeer, but he always comes back to the animals. It is part of our root identities no matter how many levels of pretend we may be in.

I am loving watching this little boy's imagination soar. He is so creative, and he has a tremendous memory for details. It will be fun to see this develop over the next few years.