James Made It

James plays differently than a typical kid his age. He does some pretend play now, but it is mostly scene or object-oriented rather than role-playing. He will follow some simple role-playing scenarios when lead, but would rather talk about or talk to a character rather than talking for it. On the other hand, he does use his imagination for construction and visual arts. He likes to make things. Here are a couple of quick things he's done recently, spontaneously without prompting by anyone:

One day James told me that we needed to go upstairs to room 104. When I saw what he had done, James said that he "made a hotel house."

Last year at a previous day care, James put "Men" and "Women" signs on the restrooms (they were previously unlabeled and unisex). The other kids didn't like it when he insisted that they follow his signs.

This is one of a half dozen or so configurations James has come up with for playing his favorite video games, "Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition" and "Street Racing Syndicate". Since he insists on stopping at all the red lights, he hasn't yet won many street races.

In an earlier, more elaborate setup, he fabricated a trunk using an ice chest. But the dog was missing. When I asked James where the dog was, he said, "in the trunk."