The role-playing that Leo and I did today was not my first clue that Leo may one day become a famous actor:
--There was the phase he went through a year ago where he insisted we call him different names: the goalie, the engineer, the doctor, Gordon, etc.
--There was the resurrection of that phase recently where he asked to be called the shark, the dinosaur, the beaver and "Baker's Man."
--There's the performing on the stage (the elevated floor in our foyer) where he pretends to be holding a microphone
--There are the Oscar-worthy performances about having boo boos and not being able to walk. Lately he's been saying that he needs to poop right after getting into bed for his nap. At first I fell for it (I mean, who is going to deny a person a bowel movement?) But after several false (fake) alarms, I told him that he would just have to wait until after nap. He wailed, "But I really need to poop! I'm gonna make an accident! I'm going in my Pull-up right now!" I started thinking, "This time might be for real" but I stuck to my guns. And did he ever poop in his Pull-up? No. He didn't even poop after nap!
But the role-playing today showed me that he not only likes to pretend and perform, he's really good at it--a method actor! I'm going to just put excerpts from the dialogue here. (And remember, "Leo" is Leo pretending to be me and "Me" is me pretending to be Leo. It was hard for me to keep straight too. But not for Leo. He corrected me when I slipped up.)
Leo: I'll be mommy and you be Leo. What did you do at school today, Leo?
Me: I learned about the Letter R and I watched kids do show and tell and I made a raccoon mask and I was so nice and kind to my friends.
Leo: That's nice. What are you going to do when you
get home?
Me: I'm going to play for five minutes and then go take my nap because I'm tired.
Leo: That's right, Leo. But you can play for six minutes today!
Me: No, I'm too tired. I just want to play for five minutes.
Leo: I'm mommy. I'm a grill. (Girl.) I'm a woman. I can be a grill or a woman. (Giggles.)
(When we got home I thought we would switch back but he stayed in character.)
Leo: Okay, Leo, I'm going to set the timer for five minutes (as he pushes buttons on the TV remote.)
Me: Well if you're mommy I guess you'll have to take care of Gus.
Leo: Yes, I'm going to hold Gus!
(Now holding Gus on the Boppy)
(While Leo is a good actor, it does not appear that he is fooling Gus into thinking this is his mommy.)
Leo: Leo, can you look at Gus' diaper and eat?
Me: No, I can't.
Leo: But you need to get used to it, Leo. And you need to be able to eat when there are napkins and paper towels around too.
Me: You're right, mommy. Do you know why I don't like to eat when paper towels and napkins and diapers are around?
Leo: No, but you need to get over it.
(Real timer that I had set beeps)
Leo: That's the timer, Leo! It's time for you to go upstairs a
nd get ready for your nap!
(As we're walking up the stairs)
Leo: You must do what I say, Leo! Are you listening to me, Leo? Good job!
Switching back was much harder than you could imagine. I tried to do this whole "let's hold hands and spin around and 'poof' you're Leo again and I'm mommy' but he kept insisting he was mommy and he was going to sleep in my bed, etc. I promised we could switch back after nap so I'm enjoying being myself for awhile until I have to go back to being a three-year-old!
(And this is just a cute pic of the boys!)
3 comments:
I just had a really enjoyable time looking back at the two blogs about Leo's different characters. If you click on "insisted that we call him different names" link in this blog, you can see them too.
Gee, I wonder where he gets his acting and improv talent?
Love Gus' face when Mommy Leo is holding him!
At least now you know that Leo is really listening to you since he plays your part so well!
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