It started with a tea party, from there it was grocery shopping and playing mommy to her babies. Then the story lines got more complex, sometimes not rational to our jaded adult minds. We were asked to participate and ordered to say our lines correctly or put the block in the "right spot." There were tents made and houses constructed of blocks where only certain members could apply for housing (mostly of the stuffed persuasion). We bought her a baby stroller for her dolls, though she'd rather sit in it herself, she loves to take any number of her "kids" for walks around the complex. She has a purse that contains fake credit cards, a gigantic tub of plastic lipstick (which is used as concealer, blush and eyeshadow), her "monies" in a plastic change purse, and of course her keys. Watching her reproduce the events in her life with her own imaginative twist is nothing short of captivating. 
She knows how to use the tools of life from watching us so very closely for the past (almost) two years. She tries to put her huge plastic key in the door, she uses her money to pay for things, and she plays mommy to her many babies. Though, I'm pretty sure she'd be arrested for child abuse in real life. She's a typical toddler exploring the incredible world of imagination. Most of her play is mimicking what she sees in real life. Like most kids her age, she has formed her ideas of what grown ups do from watching us do everyday things. Daddy does the dishes, Mommy does the laundry and the baby cries... very loudly... until their needs are met. Things we rarely pay close enough attention to to realize these little sponges are absorbing at the most incredible rate. She is forming her own ideas about gender roles, social norms, and culture. It's amazing to see those roles and norms fall so quickly into place. (Here's a great article about gender roles.)
For her birthday, Grammy (Dave's mom) bought Lilli a "My First Doll House". The two of them spent many days of her visit playing house. Grammy is always in the rocker, Dad is in bed, and for some reason I am always in the tub. Maybe she's trying to tell me something *sniff sniff*, maybe not. Watching Lilli go from a little blob of skin and bones, flopping about to get a better view of the fuzzy world she had yet to explore, to a thinking, speaking, imagining toddler has gone by faster than anything I've ever experienced in my entire life.
While I may not understand why she is cooking her baby with a strawberry, using a glow stick to stir and yelling at me for suggesting she use a spoon, I promote this strange behavior. I'm sure she wont go on to cook babies in a fruit sauce, she will certainly get the most she can out of her imagination with out any judgement from me.
"Song of the Entry"
Shhh by Donora
