Who is Astin-Orgon?

There are unseen beings that live inside the walls of the Moore home and in our front yard. Meet Astin-Orgon. He is a friend of Batman, looks like Boba Fett (the bounty hunter from Star Wars), eats artichokes, flies and has a helmet. Then there’s our sister Jack. Jack is a slug - that’s right those black, gastropod mollusks that lurk under the rocks in your yard. Although Jack enjoys accompanying Mason into the house to read books – at least until she is banished by Mom - her activity of choice is to have a slimy sleep over with her cousin Adie, the earthworm, and Jessie the mole.

Contrary to the constant appearance of media-conceived beings, we allow very little screen time in our home. And although Jack and Adie join our family circle often, especially after a good rain, I have yet to see Jessie the mole – thank goodness. But it doesn’t take much in these early years to influence the imagination of a child whose separation of fiction and reality is gray at best.

I recently read an article about the importance of pretend play in the development of young children. The article reads, “Research has shown that pretend play provides children with a microcosm for life that encourages them to take the skills they have learned in play and apply them to meaningful life activities. It is believed that this process of application helps your child not only develop a skill, but learn how to use it in life.”

Well, Astin-Orgon and Sister Jack, welcome to the family. Please stay as long as you like. We’ll miss you when you’re gone!