Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Wednesday's Word: Imagination

Peter was insistent: we were going to Once Upon a Child, our nearby used clothing store, to find "ruby slippers" and a blue-and-white-checked pinafore so Vi could dress up as Dorothy Gale of Kansas. I admit it: I rolled my eyes. Yet another of my husband's crazy ideas..

Except it was a great idea. ViMae loves her ruby slippers and wears them constantly. She loves the dress we found and wears that nearly every day, too. She renamed her little dog and now totes Toto everywhere she goes--sometimes in a basket.

The kids love the excellent Wizard of Oz exhibit at the Children's Museum (the exhibit closes Sept. 12). We showed them the opening scenes of the movie in which Dorothy gets transported to Oz and meets her traveling companions. Mom and Dad showed them the rest, carefully talking through the scary parts. Like Dorothy's heels, something clicked. ViMae decided she was Dorothy and she assigns supporting roles to those around her. Sometimes I get to be Glinda the Good Witch. Pa has been the Wizard... totally appropriate, given his role in encouraging this little scenario. He regularly tells her to "Pay no attention to the man behind..." whatever he's hiding behind at the moment.

She sometimes responds only to her pseudonym and occasionally blames Dorothy for bad behavior ("Vi doesn't have the crayon in her mouth; Dorothy has the crayon"). Mostly she just has fun with it. And what better role model? Dorothy is brave, and she helps her friends.

The other day, Abby mentioned that Vi's feet are growing again. We've already gone back to buy red shoes--er, ruby slippers--in a larger size.

19 comments:

The Good Cook said...

That is precious!

DJan said...

Awww... I LOVE those ruby slippers, and the cute little Toto. With a first name of Dorothy (don't tell), I used to name my favorite things Toto. I've never been fond of the name, which is why I only use the first initial. But the movie, that's another thing altogether.

When I was little, my sister and I had to be taken out of the movie because we were terrified by the scary parts. I recently watched it again on Netflix, and it's STILL scary in parts.

Allyson said...

Oh ViMae, you are SO precious in your dress and slippers!! I can appreciate your eyerolling, but it really was a great idea! And it won't be that long before she will think it's a stupid idea. So, better to catch her now before she outgrows the pretend phase. Did you see the dragon and the ninja on my blog a few days ago? They didn't come out of those costumes the entire time I was visiting - except for dinner out and sleeping. And The Wizard of Oz DOES have some scary parts. Hello? Melting witch? Not for the faint of heart...

Teresa Evangeline said...

Dorothy really was a role model for kindness and bravery and Vi looks so fine in her ruby slippers.

Chantel said...

Imagination is the paint that makes the world lovely! She's adorable and I personally cannot think of a better role model. (just think, she could have picked orphan annie.....lol!)

Far Side of Fifty said...

She makes a really cute Dorothy! Every little girl should have Ruby Slippers and a Grandpa willing to scout out the stores for them! Have you been to the Museum in Grand Rapids? I have always wanted to go, but never took the time..:)

grammy said...

How fun
I have lots of dress up stuff and the girls play it constantly. The grands are 3,5,6,8,and 9...last Dec when they all came (their parents too) on the first to help decorate the tree... the girls dressed up first thing...therefore all of my pictures have them in tutu's and whatnots (o:
One year one of them was Dorothy on Halloween and she was soooo cute (o:

Cheryl said...

This is adorable. So is ViMae.

Cheryl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emma said...

So cute! I especially love the part where she blames Dorothy.

The mad woman behind the blog said...

Their imagination is endless, is it not? My 2 year old was immediately taken with the Wizard of Oz. She said Dorothy so clearly we nearly fell out of our chairs.

Next I'll have her singing Over the Rainbow!

Tell us more, tell us more!

Linda Myers said...

Ruby slippers! What a lucky girl!

I remember. "There's no place like home."

Jeanie said...

How lucky and precious she is. Keep her pretending for as long as you can.

Jenny said...

Oh she is precious. Just precious. It seems like one of the biggest gifts to give to these sweet little ones is imagination. This was a really sweet post.

Anonymous said...

Adorable!!!!!!

Deb Shucka said...

Oh how I wish I had ruby slippers as cute as those. She's the most adorable girl I've seen in a long while. Long live Dorothy.

Cheryl Kohan said...

What fun! She's a little cutie pie but you already know that :-) I haven't ever been to the Children's Museum in the Cities so we'll have to put that on our list.

Our four year old granddaughter pretends to be a cat and very often will only speak in "meows". It's a phase, I'm hoping. I'm not very fluent in "cat".

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

How cute! Love the ruby slippers.

Rajlakshmi said...

awww those slippers really suit her :D lovely :D

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails