Reality

When H1 plays a make-believe game, she really gets into the role. If she is playing "Farm", she becomes a "Milly Goat", and I think she really and truly believes that she is one. She would go "Baa....baaa" and ask my husband (the farmer) to feed her through the pen. She would get highly annoyed if we address her in any other way than we would to a Billy Goat. If I call out "H1" to her, she would say "I'm NOT H1. I'm a Milly Goat!"

Yesterday, H1and I were playing "Supermarket". She was the shop assistant and I was the customer. She was really into the game, and was having a great time until she banged her head while reaching out for the shopping basket. She started crying while saying something which I couldn't understand through her sobs. I picked her up and rubbed her forehead, but she still kept on crying and saying the same thing over and over again. After carefully listening to her, I finally figured out what it was. She was saying "I'm still H1....I'm still H1."

I think once she banged her head, the world of make-belief fell apart and she was no-longer a shop assistant, but a little girl. She must have thought I was still in the play-role, and wanted to make sure that I understood that I would have to come back to being Ammi and take care of my little H1Girl.