I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream...

Ikea and little wee funsters is pretty much a home run. If you're avoiding Ikea for some random reason, and you have funsters at home that could benefit from all that Swedish ingenuity (that sounds funny, even if I know it to be true) then you really need to shake your inhibitions loose and go get some meatballs and an ice cream play set...maybe a chair or book shelf, while you're at it.

Zedder scored this new, awesome Playdoh ice cream play set thingy a few weeks ago, and it's been a pretty popular hit. Sure the ice cream tastes kind of awful (as most modeling compounds composed of flour, water, salt, boric acid, and silicone oil do) but the service is top notch at Zed's Ice Creamery, and the owner is awfully damn cute.



Zed's got herself a pretty amazing imagination, as most squirts do, I guess, and I'm sure we've fostered it quite a but with the kind of toys that we surround her with, but she just seems to have the personality and perspectives of a kid absolutely made for imaginative play. She's a curious and bold play pal in social situations, but she'll happily play alone too...and do it astonishingly well. She makes up stories, and acts out fairly hilarious dramatic conflicts between stuffed animals. She never forgets a line from a book or movie, and she's better at grouping and organizing things than her mom and I combined. She's pretty damn good at this playing thing.



I know these next couple of years are shaping her quite possibly more than any other development that she'll enjoy across the span of her whole life, but it seems baffling to me what she locks onto, and what she finds interest in. I am floored at the absolute consequence of every interaction and each moment. When she wants to talk about something, boy, you'd better be ready to talk because the meat of that conversation is very likely going to stay with her. We thought that she was developing fast before...not even close to the speed with which she changes and grows now. For me, it's become pretty obvious that early on it's as simple as pouring every amount of attention and energy into how you're interacting with your child. THe ice cream still tastes like $#!^ though.