Last week, K did something that astonished me. She has been role playing with her stuffed animals for a while–feeding them and making them insisting on having them read books to her–but last week she play acted an entire meal.
I wasn’t there at first. We were all sick and I had gone out to buy knitting materials for Ko (since we were stuck at home). When I got back K had filled a pot from the kitchen with small toys like blocks and puzzle pieces. She was stirring it with a spoon and ladling out “soup” for her stuffed lion, bear, and rabbit.
It’s one of those moments where little changes add up to something extraordinary. There was also a little twinge in me because I had been making soup for the three of us continuously for the three days prior. Because we were all sick, I had twice bought an entire chicken and boiled it down to the bones so that we would have something easy and healthy to eat.
It always gives me an eerie feeling when I witness how closely K watches us. But having her step into my role felt like an entirely different level.