Pure Imagination

Magnolia just came in from the garden, where she had gone voluntarily to water the vegetables (miracles do happen) and as she passed through the house, she said, "There was a lizard right next to the strawberry bed and he was just sitting there STARING AT ME and it creeped me out". So, naturally, I say, "Cool! Was it trying to pass along a message to you from his lizard world?". She stopped, looked at me like she was 13 and deadpanned, "Haha. Very funny mom. But we both know there is no such thing as a lizard world."

I, without stopping doing THEIR chore of unloading the dishwasher, corrected, "of course there's a lizard world!" Max, shockingly having my back, agreed: "Of COURSE lizards have to talk to each other."

Magnolia, completely annoyed, sighed heavily and continued her path through the house. I pondered aloud "Did I end up raising children without imaginations? Is that what is happening here???" To which Max sighed, exasperatedly, "Mom, you didn't raise us!" At this point, I stopped with the dishes and said "what?" He explained that raising is what you do with children who aren't your actual children. I'm just their mom. I explained that the verb stays the same, and he can feel assured in the knowledge that I am, in fact, raising them.

But what bothers me WAY more about this conversation is the fact that Magnolia doesn't want to play pretend with me and discuss the possibility of a lizard world. Is it that she's growing up, and anything I say is totally annoying to her? Is it that she just learned of the reality of the other fictitious, gift bringing folk in the world (yes, the big 3 are all out of the bag, although her lying skills are coming in handy as far as keeping her brother in the dark about it) and this represents the demise of pretend? Or is it that I truly somehow managed to raise kids who don't have that lust for pretend worlds? Oh, how sad that would make me. Gah, parenting is so dang unclear most of the time I don't know why we try so darn hard.