Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Philadelphia, PA

About six months ago my daughter (now 2 years and four months old) began doing pretend play with her dolls and stuffed animals. Besides being adorable (seriously, the cuteness of her tucking her stuffed dinosaur into bed just kills me), what does it mean?

According to Yale University child development psychologists Dorothy and Jerome Singer, "A critical feature of adult life is our ability to create stories we tell ourselves about possible futures and ways of attaining our goals. Children need to get an early start in such inner storytelling and mental manipulation of various situations."

I suppose that's true, but it seems to me that my daughter is just experimenting with what is real, and what is not. I don't think she wants to actually go to sleep when she tucks in her dolls; she just enjoys pretending. I suppose she is practicing with her hopes and dreams, however. I don't know.

We haven't had much practice with things like tea parties, although she quite happily poured me a faux cup of tea with the tea set they have in the Sunday School room at church (we don't have a tea set at home yet). She does, however, offer both me, the dog, and her dolls fake food. She comes to me with her hands clasping the imaginary food, pops it into my mouth, and says "So good? So yummy?" I suppose that means she's making developmental leaps and bounds, but to me, she's just the cutest thing I've ever seen.

When she gets a bit older, I fully plan to take her downtown to the Four Seasons Hotel to enjoy a formal Afternoon Tea. It's such a fun opportunity for both of us to dress up and wear hats and delicately sip tiny cups of sweet tea while eating teeny sandwiches and pastries. I suspect she'd have to be four or five before that would really appeal to her, however, so it's a bit of a ways off (hey, I'm an adult who "needs to tell myself about possible futures"). I know a lot of moms do that with their daughters and then head over to the Academy of Music to see The Nutcracker by the Pennsylvania Ballet at Christmas time; now, that sounds delightful. I can't wait.

Until then, however, I'm going to just be grateful that my daughter has inherited my vivid imagination and enjoy her "So good? So yummy?" fake treats while they last; I suspect that will be fleeting indeed.