bingo girl and a light-up shirt

three. it's such a great age...for watching your kid doing some (very special) moves, for language development and the happy word conflations that come with it ("appertizement" is one of my favorites - combo of appetizer and refreshment), for playground play advancements, for PLAY. it's really fun to play with a child who takes on an alternate identity for months at a time, who is unabashedly proud of himself and his accomplishments and acquisitions.

take the Batman...in line at the grocery store today to pay for his own box of Batman fruit snacks, eli looks up at the cashier, hands him the box and says proudly, "those are my bat snacks. i have THREE pairs of Batman pajamas at home. AND a Batman costume." nevermind that the costume has holes from being worn for so many hours. i'm planning on framing it to hang on his wall. or maybe in the living room.

today is the first day.

bingo girl, that's my horse name. not my horse's name, my horse name. my 3-year-old son elijah (his horse name is "benjianna") gave it to me. we'd never pretended to be horses before today, but benjianna is grey with grey hair and bingo girl is blue (a nice pigment-dyed blue, sun faded--i got to choose my own color.) his 10-month old brother, owen, is "owenboy" and the leader of our herd. his color changes often even though he is the most even-tempered among us. today we also erupted our first homemade volcano, before we were horses. supplies: beer bottle, clay, food coloring, vinegar, dish soap, warm water and baking soda.  it was a really great day.