One of the moments I have been looking most forward to since learning I would be a mom is pretend play. Playing dolls, cars, puzzles, little made up games…oh yeah bring it on!

Lily first started what her therapist called pretend play when she was about 10 months old. She began learning to roll a ball back and forth to me. Then quickly escalated to putting shapes in the slots, moving fisher price guys around, placing the farm animals into the different pens and barns and of course initating a rousing game of peek a boo! Now she mothers her baby, completes puzzles, reads books to her brother, and drives her cars around – she has even drove one of her guys around on one of her cars!

What I didn’t expect (or rather didn’t think of) would be that with pretend play also comes a level of attitude and bossiness that is quite impressive (and incredibly daunting at times). Lily is very opinionated and very independent. Only Lily knows the correct way to play and for exactly how long.

Man this child has an amazing attention span- she can play a game until you find yourself thinking about offering her anything, even chocolate, just to re-direct her. I mean really, how long can one possibly play the upside down game or chase? I have played patty cake and itsy bitsy spider until my hands ached! LOL!

And holy smokes- you better play the right way or else you risk being corrected or rather huffed at. The cow goes in the barn not the stall!! The blonde guy rides on the red car- get it right mom! The giraffe walks sideways while the elephant lays down. Don’t touch that one! Aaaaagh!! Look with your eyes mom, not your hands. No, I want BOTH cars. And so on and so on and so on…. 🙂

So yes, I have a little bossy cow on my hands and as frustrating and tiresome as it can be, I know that every second of this, proves to me that my little girl is growing cognitively! Since cognitive delays are pretty much a guarantee with Down syndrome, I often wonder what that will look like. When will the delays reflect retardation? What exactly IS retardation? Honestly I do not know- I fear, I worry, I ponder but I do not know.

What I do know is that my Lily is a typical acting almost 2 year old that strives for her independence, gets frustrated when things don’t go her way and has a teensy weensy (okay maybe huge) case of bossy cow syndrome!