Imaginary World

Over the past several months, LB has really started expanding his imaginary world. It's been so fun to see the things that he likes to pretend to do on a day to day basis and to watch those pretend games become more elaborate. He also has a few, what appear to be, imaginary friends. One of those characters is "Happydoo." I have no idea how LB came up with his name but all of a sudden he started talking about "Happydoo." At first, it was a stalling tactic. I had to change Happydoo's diaper before his and I had to put Happydoo to bed. But now we sometimes play ball with Happydoo or we share pretend food with Happydoo. It should be noted that Happydoo is a rather small fellow. According to LB, he fits in the palm of your hand. I love that one of his imaginary friend's names revolves around the word "happy." I think that is pretty indicative of his personality. There is also an elusive "the man" in LB's imaginary world. Sometimes I think "the man" is a little creepy. But in LB's world he seems to be mostly a nice man. This man first showed up in the bath, which is perhaps why I think he is on the sketchy side. LB told me that the man was "messy and dirty." Awesome. Let's hope he doesn't go to school and tell his teachers about the dirty man in his bath. The man makes his way out of the bath as well. He likes to tickle our feet (again with the creepy) and sometimes he just comes along in whatever it is we are doing that day. So far he hasn't blamed any bad choices on either "the man" or "Happydoo." I'm sure that day is coming. LB did try and rat out of my sister once about a mark on the wall so he's perfectly capable of trying to escape consequences.

I try and snap pictures of some of his pretend play but he is usually on the move so it's tough. One of his favorite games to play is "marching band." He usually gets to be in the band and then he tells you to "say yay." So he marches along and plays an instrument and you wave and say "yay!" He also loves to incorporate his flags since we had them at both the Memorial Day and Fourth of July parades that we went to earlier this year.

Almost everyday we play in my car and pretend it is an airplane. We go through all the steps of putting on seat belts, taking off and landing. He likes to push the Hazard button and mess with the turn signals. My mom started this game with him when they were visiting and it has not lost its appeal. Then he likes to get out of the car and pretend to "run to Meemaw and Poppy." So we pretend we are at the airport and we run down the driveway and give pretend hugs. It's cute.

Often when I go to get him after his nap, he likes to pretend there is water surrounding his crib. He'll throw his stuffed friends into the water and I have to pull them out and dry them off. LB thinks this is hilarious.

He likes to "go to the store." He has his little shopping cart so I'll tell him things I need and he'll run down the driveway with his cart and get everything and come back. Then we do it over and over. I think he's ready for Supermarket Sweep. Do you remember that game show? Does that make me sound old?

Of course, each new stage brings it's own set of joys and challenges but I love all this pretend and imaginary stuff. I had an imaginary friend when I was little. Her name was Litty. But I couldn't say my "Ls" so it sounded like "Yitty." I am pretty sure she stuck around until my sister was born. D didn't have one but that isn't shocking because his younger brother was born before D was two so he had a playmate from the beginning. Not so secretly, I hope that Happydoo sticks with us for a while. I could do without "the man" but I'll leave it up to LB. Or we'll at least cross our fingers that he isn't dirty all the time. Did you have an imaginary friend?