Pretend

Lyla invented a game before bed last night. I was lying on the floor in her nursery while Julie sat in the rocker, and Lyla walked from Julie to the ottoman, then to me. When she got to me, she knelt and rested her head on my legs. Then she got up and made her way back to Julie.

She repeated this process 15 or 20 times. Julie and I said, "Nigh-night, Lyla," whenever she put her head down on me. So now it's the nigh-night game. Perhaps you will play it at home with your significant other.

I think the nigh-night game marks the first instance where Lyla has role played something. Actually, now that I write that, I'm remembering that occasionally she pretends to feed me a Cheerio. That's the fun of pretending, I guess: Lyla knows she doesn't really have to relinquish the Cheerio, just as playing the nigh-night game means she's not really going to bed.