Innocence

means having three animal friends (a giraffe, a small ball-shaped panda, and a newly-acquired cat) you carry about, making them part of your life, even sleeping with them in your crib and telling them about your day. Innocence means having your own free, ongoing, confident spin on language with words like bee-nana, firty-one, and pootie (computer). Innocence means building endless lines with blocks of all sorts or having ever-changing interests like stickers or coloring with big crayons. Yes, Innocence is, most of all, about daily play–especially engaged, distracted, spontaneous play of the moment–and family adult playmates in a very safe, upbeat, fun world far, far from the bad, negative aspects of too many others, a fair chunk of life, and the ever-conflictful world of later adult experience.