Imagination with Vehicles

I believe it was Grandmom who bought this transportation-themed carpet to keep at Chris' house when he was still a bachelor uncle so the nieces and nephew would have something fun to do when they visited. It's been in John's play room for a while but I noticed yesterday that he finally understood how to use it. I found him driving his matchbox cars all along the roads, then towing them to the mechanic's shop.

John's imagination has seen an explosion of development lately. Throughout the day I hear him pretending to drive a construction vehicle or a truck and doing all kinds of activities: getting in and out of the truck, driving on a bumpy road, stopping because deer are in the road, stopping to watch turtles, digging a hole, and so on.

Also, for the first time I saw John name one of his toys yesterday. He had built a Duplo vehicle with a man driving on it and he named it something or other. Simultaneously he began saying, "I am George. I wear a hard hat. I drive a construction vehicle." That's the first time he's taken on a fictitious name.

As I type this, John is playing with matchbox cars and coins and the matchbox cars are loading up with coins to "drive them back to the valley," wherever that is.

These are exciting developments for me to watch!