Henry the Pirate Farmer

Pretend play is at a all time high these days with our little Henster.  He's constantly babbling and if I respond to cries for help or questions he's asking I frequently get the reply, "I'm not talking to you mom!"  Lately, however, Justin and I have been included on the fun as we play pirates almost every day.  Our couch is the main boat, the chair is the life boat (for rowing ashore) and a huge poster of the movie, "Land of the Lost" is our treasure map.  He has a periscope and his ride on toys are the dinosaurs he has to kill before he can collect the treasure. 

To give this a comprehensive description, you must know that everything is said in rough, scratchy pirate voices.  The first day I asked him who was going to be captain and he said in his usual voice, "I'm captain," and then I asked him what I do and he said, "you take care of the baby".  Not much of a roll change for me.  He gets off the life boat where he was supposed to fight a T-Rex for the treasure(I was the T-Rex growl) and as I was trying to play the part, he told me that he was only poking him in the bum but hadn't chased after him yet.  Finally he was chased and he used his sword to slay the beast. 

The all-time best was, though, when Justin was playing with Henry and they went around the house collecting pretend things to put in their treasure chest and when he was done Justin asked him what he had collected and in his pirate voice he said, "food, drinks and seeds." Justin asked him what he was going to do with the seeds and he said gruffly, "plant a garden so we can eat vegetables."  Justin and I couldn't hold in our smiles and chuckles.  That night for dinner he wouldn't eat his squash but I turned pirate and told him that he had to eat it because we grew it in our pirate garden and while he was laughing, I shoved a huge mouthful of it in and he happily chewed it and swallowed.  We just love our boy. 

I'm also going to start including my thoughts about the many reasons I wish to home school and time to pretend play and be creative is one of them. I heard creativity usually starts petering out as soon as kids enter the public school system.  Tragic! I want my kids to have all the time in the world to write plays, paint, roll-play with their siblings, etc.  I remember my sister spending hours writing and illustrating books when she was only 5.  I still think she could have been an amazing author but I think the busy life of a child going to school doesn't allow kids to develop their natural talents enough to make it enjoyable, at least.  I had talents in many things but I was always stressed and rushed to get practices in my busy schedule which makes things not fun at all. I even see it with Henry. He used to create these fabulous abstract paintings but now he thinks he has to draw or make something recognizable or it's not good enough.  He gets frustrated and won't continue.  I want him to think that whatever his hand does is fabulous and that he doesn't have to think or reason to create art.  I think I'll have to take him down to the museum of art and show him some abstracts to bring back his confidence.