I've really pushed pretend play with Emmanuel...and three weeks ago, I realized that maybe I was encouraging his imagination a little too much. We were in the grocery store, and he said, "Woody, what are you buying?" I said, "E, who are you talking to?" He said, "You, Woody!"
Now, I guess that I should be flattered, right? He loves Woody. Woody was his Christmas present from Eli and me. He couldn't stop talking about cowboys after seeing Toy Story 3 on Ice. But, somehow, it's taking me some getting used to. (And it doesn't help that people begin to stare when my 2 year old yells "Woody" to me in the store!)
So, the conversation continued.
I said, "Emmanuel, if I am Woody, then who are you?" He replied, "I'm Buzz and Reese is Little Buzz." And, I said to myself, "Oh...wow...he's really put a lot of thought into this."
A few nights later at dinner, Eli looked a little confused when Emmanuel called me Woody. (It was then that I realized that I forgot to tell him about our new identities.) And, he said, "Oh, well, who am I?" Emmanuel said, "You can be Andy."
It seems as though he is restricting access into the "Buzz--Woody--and Andy identities" for our little immediate family because his favorite people in the world are still called, "James, Michael, Mia, and Joshua." He does use his new name out in public when talking with me, but when someone new asks him his name (everybody always talks to us when we are out shopping...I like to talk...he likes to talk...Reese grins at everyone...it takes us a year to buy one item), he still says, "Emmanuel."
I don't know how long this new identity will last...as a matter of fact, with parenting, I don't know how long any stage will last. I'm just along for the ride.
Yesterday, Emmanuel made an observation of how his toy Woody was dressed. He said, "Woody has on blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat." I looked at my own outfit, and well, I had on blue jeans and cowboy boots (my cowboy hat was in the house). Maybe I'm a little more like the toy Woody than I realized!
Yee--HAW!
