And the Award For Best Performance in a Reality Series Goes To....

Well, OK - I didn't actually watch the Emmys last night, but all the talk surrounding last night's event paired with Keira's recent foray into pretend play got me to thinking about when Quinn first started to pretend.

For those of you who know Quinn to any extent at all, you probably know how much he loves pretend play. He loves becoming someone else, in his own little made-up world and made-up scenarios. He loves it even more when he can recruit others to join him.

I can still remember the very first thing he acted out.

He was 2ish. He walked over to his toys, grabbed his toy keys, headed toward the back door and said "Gotta go to work. Love you! Drive careful!" We thought it was so cute that he was pretending to go to work like mom and dad.

Then, a few days later, he pretended to leave to go pick up pizza. Ah, yes. He was really capturing the essence of this household.

Next, he started to pretend that he was the one dropping me off at daycare. And he instructed me to cry for him. And then (it gets worse), he would give me a hug and give me the pep talk I used to give him. His version: love you; play with your friends; it's fun; be back soon!

How do they know how to guilt you so well at such a young age??! Ugh.

Was this, at the time, how he saw his life? Parents off to work; daycare drop off; pizza for supper? Surely there was more.....

Now, 2 years later, his little sis is starting to pretend. Today at a play date in the park, Keira and her buddy M pretended to feed each other snacks and drinks. It was quite cute. I'm guessing the hint here was that we weren't supplying them with enough food on our own! After we came home, she grabbed one of her dolls (this in and of itself is newsworthy - she usually gravitates toward cars and Buzz Lightyear) and pretended to put the doll down for a nap. "Shhhhhh," she told me. "Nappy."

So, the jury is still out on who's the better performer. One performance is a bit less guilt-laden than the other, but they are both priceless just the same.

They both act from the heart. Make it real. Really get into their characters. They are a director's dream.

I guess it's a good thing we have a best actor AND a best actress category.

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By the way, aside from knowing how Q is constantly pretending something, you may know that he really, really does not like art. I can always pick out his artwork at preschool - it is the stuff done all in one color or done very minimalistically. Last year, the teachers told me that he was always the last one to come to the art table. So, imagine my surprise the other day when he told me he wanted to fingerpaint! "Who is this kid?" I thought. So naturally, I captured the moment on film. And then, true to form, he used one color, painted for 5 minutes, and was ready to move on. Ah yes, that's the boy I know!