Make Believe

The other day in the car Evan was asking me to define "make believe."

So then he would give me an example of something and we would talk about how it was make believe or not. It started to get very detailed. For example, it was clear to both of us that 'firedog', an imaginary dog that Evan has, is make believe. No one can see him and Evan makes up all the information about what firedog is doing. So then he asked if Winnie the Pooh is make believe or real. We talked about how Winnie the Pooh is make believe in that he was made up by someone and is not a real, living creature. "Except for when a person is wearing a Winnie the Pooh costume, you know with the big head," Evan clarified. Well, still make believe.

But he is real in that you can see pictures of him and read about him in a book.

So I guess firedog and Winnie the Pooh are at different levels of make believe?

I started to get confused myself.

Anyway, I'm sure this conversation came from Evan's trying to figure what is real and what is not. What is truth and what is a lie. Sometimes he will lie about something when asked a direct question, in a situation that seems unimportant. Trying, I think, to figure out when it is ok to make something up and when he needs to tell the truth.

I picked him up from his Wednesday morning class that he attends while I am attending Community Bible Study and the teacher told me she really loved hearing all about George. "Oooooohhhhh...what did Evan tell you about George?" I asked.

She reviewed all the information Evan had shared with her about our pet mouse, George, who is black and what his little house is like that we made for him and what he eats and how we take him to visit the firehouse. When I told her that we don't have a mouse and Evan likes to pretend those things, she couldn't believe it was made up because of how detailed Evan had been in his story telling.

This afternoon I had him call my parents to see if it was snowing in Columbus, where they live.

After my dad answered the phone, here is the story he launched into...

"Hi, you know this morning when my mom was taking a shower and my dad was getting ready for work, I heard on the radio that there was a tornado in Paris, France. It knocked the Eiffel Tower down and a lot of emergency trucks had to come. One was called N-E-T-O...."

He kept on for a few more minutes with more details than I can remember right now. I was just amazed that this vivid, detailed story popped out of his head out of nowhere. It will be a fun and hopefully successful journey helping Evan to put these powers of imagination and story telling to good use.