Pretend Real

That's the name of Simon and Clover's imaginary world of late. Often when there is pretend play happening, I hear conversations about whether something is "pretend real" or "real real." Pretend Real mostly involves building a couch fort and fighting against "bad guys" in the form of drugs, germs, and the more predictable wicked witches.

On the germ front, one day their imagined enemy was the kingdom of germs, with its king and queen, Mr. and Mrs. Strep, princess Ear Infection, and prince Bark-in-mouth (Clover's invention--sounds like a nasty illness to me!).

Another time, I overheard Clover say, "We need to practice our archery, where's my quiver?" (I've since discovered that the "quiver" is a can of colored pencils that occasionally get launched across the room.)

Even Gideon has a Pretend Real persona: "Ba-Ba." (So named because that is his frequent refrain.) If you ask him, "Are you 'Ba-Ba' in pretend real?" He will nod yes and say, "Ba-Ba!"

Tonight the enemy of choice is the "king drug space alien."