Pirates

Lately, Tahlia has become infatuated with pirates. We have pirate books and recently visited the beach, which I think has made her fascinated with them. This fascination grew exponentially the other day when, shortly after her rest time (naps are no longer) she asked me to make a pirate flag. Well, the flag happened, and was lashed to the couch, which, of course, became the pirate ship. Then, a map was made, followed by a hat -- black and adorned with the skull and crossbones. I was able to fashion the hat so that it sat on Tahlia's head properly -- not one of those newspaper hats, but with a slight tilt and everything. I even went so far as to create a sword for her. In the subsequent days, Asher also was given a sword that could second as a red jalapeño pepper, complete with a green handle, or stalk. The swords were not a big hit with Mommy, but, I felt if they were going to be pirates, they should probably be prepared to deal with other pirates, who were definitely going to have swords.

For several days, the pirate play went on. There was arrrrrging; there was shouting; there were scalawags. And after a while, there was enough.

The flag started falling off of the boat more and more, which would result in crying. Sometimes it was stolen by a small being who no longer longed to be a pirate. This scamp would snatch the flag, with no fanfare or flourish, and dash away, gleefully. In the wake of him, there would be a devastated-once-pirate (pirates, in general, do not throw themselves on the floor crying about a flag).

Although Tahlia was the self-proclaimed captain, the admirals of the much larger ship being driven through this life were growing tired of pirate games. For, with more reading, it started to become clear to the head pirate that pirates really aren't good people. Discussions were started about why people needed to walk the plank, or why did the pirates attack a ship and them make everyone get off prior to sinking it. And as there was a greater understand as to the type of people pirates were, there were behaviors that went along with acting like a pirate.

One day, Daddy was trying to get the captain to eat something. I didn't care what it was, but I was hoping that she would have a little variety in her diet. To that extent, I was trying to make sure that she ate something other than a second banana for the day. She was pretty set on eating a banana, so I thought I would just clarify something.

I asked, "Do pirates eat a lot of bananas?"

She looked at me, and with a look of incredulity, stated, "Daddy, pirates do what ever they want."

I guess we can move onto the next role play -- this one is clearly understood.