The Next Stage

Over the last few weeks, I have noticed a change in Soren. And I'm not just talking about becoming a big brother. He has entered a new stage in his own right -- interactive and imaginary play. It is so fun to watch him enter this phase, to hear him scripting out his play based on books we've read, the Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train movies we've watched. Even when it's at the dinner table playing with his food, it's hard not to smile and indulge while he plays out a scene with actions and dialogue that he has heard or created.

Soren has become more independent in his play with this change and it is so much fun to sit on the couch with Mattias and watch Soren use his tow trucks to rescue the truck stuck in the mud, to hear as the trains greet each other and ask how they're doing or go up and down the mountain of the couch cushions. The noise of his hammer pounding on the sturdy plastic of his slide is made more bearable by the sounds of his sweet voice as he imagines himself building, "Oh, I missed a nail." or "I better go build." He is even starting to use the (toy) cell phone he got for Christmas to speak -- "Hello, this is Soren. I'm very busy...doing my job." which is said after informing me, "It's ringing, I better go answer it." It all just melts my heart!

Despite the lack of a playmate at home, Soren has found one in Marley, or as he calls him, "Barley." Soren has started to dialogue with Marley and interact with him, sometimes in doggie appropriate ways like throwing a ball for him and then asking him to drop it so he can throw it again. But also as though Marley is his friend and capable of responding to him, "Where should we go, Barley?" "Come with Soren, Barley." "What should be do, Barley?" I love watching Soren interact with our dog and though often when he's with other kids I am not around, I know that means he has reached a stage where his play is becoming more interactive and will involve other people.

This little boy was still so much my baby 4 weeks ago, and yet along with the addition of a new baby in the family, these weeks have brought about so much growth in my oldest son. Everything about him is bigger, wiser, more "grown up" than a month ago. He is a charming, active, intelligent little boy who is learning yet another way to explore and interact with his world and it is a bittersweet pleasure for me to watch him as he does.