A baby on the roof?

The other day at the Odegaard home, Daddy was taking a nap in the cradle, Mommy was doing laundry, the house pony was taking a bath and the baby was on the roof with the table.

Don't worry, no one was in danger (nor getting any sleep). Kalina was simply playing with her new toy house.

Now that Kalina is in control of her lilliputian environment, there's always something exciting happening. Whether she's waving hi to the miniature farmer or holding a small horse up to the window to see the truck outside, Kalina gives us glimpses into her sweet little mind through the world of pretend play.

And it's a nice, happy world. Lamby, for instance, is always ready to perform the motions to The Wheels on the Bus (with Kalina's help, of course), and bath doggies can swim under water indefinitely without needing to surface for air (they're also always dirty and in need of a good scrubbing). Plastic bowls can fry up plastic eggs directly on the toy burner (who knew?), although little cooks still need to use an oven mitt when convenient. Cups and bowls can be filled with imaginary water from the pretend faucet to quench the thirst of a multitude of stuffed animals. In addition to hanging out on rooftops, babies drive tractors and sit on toilets (come on, Kalina, make that connection!) and farm animals are just as likely to take a bath as mommies are. They also occasionally make an appearance at the dinner table, where hay, strawberries and play-dough are the most common meals.

As someone who also (albeit somewhat ashamedly) thinks her stuffed animals are alive, I'm appropriately delighted at this development. It started a few months ago when Kalina first shared her sippy cup with Lamby, and has since blossomed, with the help of Christmas and its ensuing age-appropriate toys.

Frankly, 6-18-month toys had always been a bit awkward for Kalina, anyway. She's not really into shape sorting, and that rules out 50% of toyish stock right there. Stacking, opening/closing and dumping are okay, but, really, there are only so many times you can do that in a given day.

I'm also thrilled to see that the girl has an imagination (although I wish she could be more imaginative than putting Mommy in front of the tiny laundry room for hours on end). And that within Kalina's pretend world, she takes excellent care of her stuffed animals (who are well fed and watered all day long) and makes sure all the people are facing forward at the table. The girl is an orderly little soul.

Of course, all of this pretending is a reflection of our own daily life, a realization that makes us the tiniest bit fearful. What embarrassing family moment will Kalina choose to highlight in her next bout of play? Will she pick the time Mommy let her eat half her snack off the floor? Or the time Daddy appeared in camo in public (inside joke)? However, what did her little family do before digging into their dinner? Prayed. (Kalina narrated with her own specific prayer, which sounded suspiciously like a "baa.") At least we're doing something right.

And the best part? Every night (for four nights in a row, anyway) at 7:40 Kalina, with only the slightest suggestion, puts her mommy, daddy and baby to sleep in her toy house, closes it, places it next to her toy box, and heads upstairs to brush her teeth and rest her own little head. And no, I'm not imagining things.

Photo: Kalina with two toy strawberries. Upon receiving them, they were immediately fed to Lamby, Pony, Mountain Lion, her Little People family, and me. Plus, now she can say strawberry (well, kind of).