On making things up

Here's another cute little Ellie comment. We were driving to school this morning and Ellie asked if I heard a strange noise. We discussed what it might be for a minute and I said I didn't hear anything and she said, "Maybe I used my imagination by accident."

Speaking of using her imagination, recently I've noticed how much more grounded in reality Ellie is than a lot of the girls I see her playing with. Many kids her age can really work themselves into a frenzy (often fearful) about things they're imagining and they will believe completely the things they are saying even if they obviously aren't true. Ellie likes to pretend but she doesn't seem to lose her sense of what's real and what's not.

That reminds me of another conversation we sometimes have in the car. Ever since she was very little, Ellie has had a fear of driving over bridges. This is not a good fear to have for the location in which we live. She used to get really scared every time we drove on a bridge, but now she's only nervous and only when the bridge goes over water. So now when we drive onto a bridge here's how the conversation goes:

Ellie: Are we over water?
Me: Yes.
Ellie: Don't tell me that!
Me: Okay, we're not.
Ellie: Are we really over water?
Me: Yes.
Ellie: Don't tell me that!
Me: Okay, we're not.

And so on until we're over the bridge.