Playtime

Rabba-Shnagga-Nooga-Noggin
James created this nonsense name for when he became a "monster" and chased the boys around the house. Colin immediately committed the word to memory, and it's hilarious to here his little three-year old voice call it out to "Dad". Oh, and the only cure for the Rabba-Shnagga-Nooga-Noggin monster is to operate - with the wide array of power tools we have.

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Drawing
Many parents of young children have to contend with the masterpiece their child presents to them, a glorious combination of colours and lines. "Tell me about it" is the phrase best used to try and discern the clear image the child sees in the drawing. Colin, on the other hand, is much more reality based. When he does get the inkling to draw, he spreads out the crayons and paper. "I'm going to draw train" he will pronounce, picking up a blue (his favourite colour) crayon. Three strokes on the paper and he hands the crayon over to me. "I can't do it, Mommy. It doesn't look like a train." He sees absolutely no point in abstract drawing or pretending it is something it's not.

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Acting
Much of Colin's active play involves acting out scenes from his favourite movies. Once he's seen a movie once, it's committed to his fantastic memory. He will then walk you through acting out the scene, including word-for-word dialogue, the exact order of plot points, and even the minute details. When the scene comes to an end, he will simply start it again. Luckily he has a few different movies that he chooses from, so it's not completely repetitive for us! Current favourites include: "The Polar Express" - skiing on top of the train with the hobo; and "Star Trek" - stealing the Enterprise.