Annada Marie Vergo

On the boat to Epcot.

Dancing pirates, alligators, Figment or hippos!
You never know what is going to show up in our house.

In the last month or so Annada’s imagination has bloomed. She has gone from making endless “pizzas” in the pool to full fledged stories about pirates that dance, shop and wash in the rain.

The pirates one stumped me for a long time. About once a day, Annada comes running up to me or yells out from her car seat that she sees pirates. Sometimes she’s scared. Sometimes she is laughing.

The first time I didn’t catch that she was saying pirates (because, you know, I’ve never been attacked by pirates personally) and I thought there really was something scary outside. She is very convincing.

Curious, I started asking what the pirates are doing. Sometimes they are dancing. Sometimes they are “walking backward upside down.” Sometimes they are just standing in our backyard being scary and coming to get her. A couple of times they were going shopping for milk.

I asked Annada where the pirates live. She told me “outside.” So I asked what they do when it rains. She said, “Wash. Naked.” Then sadly, “No bubbles.” (Those poor pirates!)

Meme finally figured out where Annada learned about pirates. Annada has a book about a dolphin that gets captured by pirates. They decide hurting a dolphin is wrong, so they let it go. To check I asked Annada if the pirates were hunting dolphins.

“Yeah,” she replied in her super slow serious way.

The Figment of Imagination

Annada has a new imaginary friend: Figment.

Figment is a little purple dragon (or alligator if you are Annada) who hijacks a tour of the Imagination Institute in Epcot. There is something about Figment that completely captures Annada. I hear about Figment and what he is doing every hour. Annada goes to bed talking about Figment and wakes up asking to see him.

When I drove into Disney last Friday Annada started clapping her hands and yelling, “Figment! Figment!”

(I read online that Disney updated the Imagination ride and got rid of Figment a few years ago. Angry parents and even board members protested and Disney actually redesigned the ride again! In many ways, Figment really did “take over” the Imagination Institute.)

I think having Figment as an imaginary friend is particularly fitting for a girl who spends much of the day “cooking” for Marc, me and three babies, pretending to be a wild animal or walking backward upside down (outside if at all possible).

I read Annada a book about snow. She ran and got her coat, a blanket and matches (yikes!) and cuddled up in our bedroom pretending to be cold. It is in the high 90s here.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS