Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 51

Today was Mouse House. Actually it is a set of Calico Critters (Sylvanian Family every else in the world). We got Natalie her first set for Christmas when she was 3. We call it Mouse House because the first Animal family to live in the first house was a set of mice. But she never really played with it, except with her Aunts and Uncles, until we moved here. Now the kids can play for hours and certain story lines last for weeks! Of course there is an orphanage and I'm not sure any of the baby animals have both a mother and a father. I have learned so much about how young children learn to integrate real life into fantasy by watching the various groups of children play at this game. I used to sit outside and listen to the ebb and flow of 3-4 of them creating a story and then integrating the houses and accesories into it. Marriages, divorces, births, new jobs, bully's on the playground all got played out with the Mouse House. Anyway, this has been the best investment ever. Now the toy table is full and there is no space for real estate expansion. Makes me a little sad to think she might not be playing with this after a year or so. I blame the melancholy on the rain...

"Mouse House Ensemble!"