make your own fun and then give it a name

My sweet Ilsa has a knack for making the most mundane items into an afternoon of fun. Today she found the big old package of TP from Costco and turned the wrapper into a sleeping bag, and the TP into a pillow. She actually started to cry when Daddy, Mr. BikeMan, said it was time to put the wrapper into the garbage. (I was kind of afraid she would want to sleep with it tonight...) Her slightly weepy reply, "You mean I have to throw Sleepy* away?" Yes, she named the wrapper.

*Ilsa has a tendency to name inanimate objects. Took us a long time to figure out what "Fluffies" were... anything "cute" per Ilsa is a Fluffy. "Mommy, I just love Fluffy trees. They are so cute they make me want to cry." What is a Fluffy tree? It's a PINE tree, the kind with long needles. But why do they make her want to cry? Out of joy? Nostalgia for Charlie Brown's pine-Christmas tree? They do look sort of fluffy in the distance, I suppose. But this one had me scratching my head: we were watching Doctor Who on Netflix this week (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know she's only 4 and watching Doctor Who). When she saw a Dalek inside of the "flying garbage can" for the first time, she cooed, "Oh Mommy, it's a Fluffy!!!" Now THAT THING is not cute -- it looks like a slimy Octopus. Last night, she asked for her Story Napkins. She wanted to sleep with them. (Hence my concern about wanting to have Sleepy, the Costco toilet paper plastic wrapper with her in bed...definitely a case of "This Plastic Bag Is Not A Toy!") Story napkins, it turns out were some pretty paper cocktail napkins with butterflies and flowers on them... she had played with them yesterday. She was using them to tell a story about the butterfly in the flowers.

I may never have to buy her another toy again.