I think we have officially entered the world of imaginative play. Tonight we spent a long time playing "doctor". These are the roles that must be filled for each round: doctor, nurse, receptionist, patient, and sometimes mommy. First the patient comes in, sometimes accompanied by mommy. (Sometimes the patient is a baby, played by a stuffed animal, in which case there is always a mommy). The receptionist greets the patient, asks for first and last name, confirms the time of the appointment (unlike their mommy, M & A are ALWAYS on time). Then the patient waits on the white sofa until the nurse is ready to take her back to the examining room, located at the green sofa. The nurse takes the patient’s temperature, weighs the patient on the red pillow. Then the doctor comes in and looks at the patient’s ears and throat. Sometimes the doctor writes a prescription. Then the patient leaves but gets to pick up a sticker on the way out.

After round 1, A insisted on putting on a tutu and being a ballerina. I asked her how the ballerina fit into the doctor scenario, but she didn’t have a good answer.

When A is the patient, her name is usually Stephanie, who is the girl from A Very Young Dancer.

When M is the patient or has a stuffed animal for a patient, she comes up with good names. Tonight: Shooshee Nickname, and then Felman Shorts.

M weighed A and said that she weighed forty dollars.

Then Daddy came home and wanted to be the patient, but the girls made him be the doctor. He had to examine Mommy. Mommy suggested that he was making inappropriate gestures and requested a woman doctor instead, so M finished the exam.