pretend play – BabyCostsMoney

Babystar is super into Alternative Toys. Yesterday, she spent 45 minutes taking the coffee K-cups from the giant Costco-sized 100-pack and placing them on her little Ikea table. Then putting them back in the box. Then putting them all back on the table. And then putting them back in the box.

They didn’t even stack like blocks. It was just a sea of Donut Shop coffees. She loved it.

She followed this with a 15 minute puppet show but the puppets were straws.

And then she headed over to her kitchen to make Rock Soup.

This kid LOVES rocks. We taught her how to put her pointer finger and pinky finger up to throw horns and say ‘ROCK!’ She does it all the time, but I don’t think she gets the concept of rock as in rocking out. I am convinced that she thinks she is communicating with actual rocks.

I heard a rumor that Santa was going to bring a play kitchen for Babystar this year. I raced that jolly old elf to Ikea (AKA I totally could not wait until December) and voilá: there is a play kitchen in the dining room.

(I did this last month. I’m so behind on posts. Wah wah.)

I bought ALL OF IT: the Ikea kitchen and the Ikea pots and pans and the Ikea stuffed felt food and even the kid’s chef hat and apron ($178.62). I also ordered several sets of Melissa & Doug wooden food ($88.42). Plus Babystar picked out a cute Melissa & Doug wooden toaster as a TOTAL BRIBE TO BEHAVE during a errand-heavy day not long ago ($10.60).

Even with more food in her play kitchen than I usually have in my real kitchen, the kid mostly cooks rocks. She fries rocks. She bakes rocks. She LOVES rocks. She washes her rocks in her pretend sink before, I don’t know, braising them. Mostly, though, she makes rock soup.

We went to the Smithsonian Natural History museum last week ($4.60 for more street parking) and we stopped in the gift shop on the way out. Guess what she chose to take home? Rocks. For her kitchen. ($6 for a fill-it-yourself bag of shiny rocks.)

RAISING BABYSTAR: $23,216.76

You guys I have had SO MANY check ups this week. And this doctor doesn’t even take my insurance. But she does take popsicles. And so far, I have been declared ‘ok’. I am also EXTREMELY up to date on my shots. And your shots. And all of the neighbors shots.

(Lucky me. My husband had the audacity to cough during a check up and he was declared SICK. Babystar is a really good doctor. Even if she pronunces check up as chep-uck.)

Babystar is TERRIFIED of the doctor. All was well until our last visit, when she screamed and fought everything. She didn’t even like the scale. Which is weird because she LOVES the scale at home. (They wouldn’t take my word for her weight, though. I guess that is good but it was annoying.)

She also cannot handle band-aids if she actually has a need for one. She will put a band-aid on anything or anyone, including herself, any other time. I find them everywhere. In fact, I think I should add $7.99 for the multipack I bought recently because Babystar had used all the band-aids. And by ‘used’ I mean ‘wasted’. She can reach the band-aid drawer and almost always comes into the bathroom and pulls at least one out when I pee. Maybe more if I am too slow.

In an attempt to get her more comfortable with this whole doctor thing, I bought her a doctor kit. I really wanted an original Fisher-Price doctor set like the one I had when I was a kid. I totally should have stalked eBay or something. But I was impatient and I just bought the first one I found at Target. ($24.99)

Babystar LOVES it and I have had several thousand check-ups this week. According to the doctor, I am ok.

Adorably, when she bumps her head or stubs her toe, she comes to me for a check-up. As long as I use enough of the doctor tools, I can declare her ‘ok’ and she seems to buy it. I hope she doesn’t ever require proof of my nonexistent PhD.

Have you bought a doctor kit for your toddler? Did it help him or her feel more comfortable at the actual doctor’s office?
RAISING BABYSTAR: $21,173.44

Tag: pretend play

Rock Soup.

The Doctor is In.