I've posted before on my DD2.5's weird stuff. Today she said, "I've been talking to Caitlyn. She can bend time. She comes and talks to me on my (toy) cell phone."

She has several other people she talks about. I could go on and on. DD even talks about living on another planet, and I didn't even know she knew what a planet was.

Tell me your kids have imaginary friends.

DD has a fantastic imagination, but some of this stuff is a little "out there" for me.

Wow seablue - I love it! You have a future SF fan I'm quite sure. Ask DD what she means by bending time, and let me know.
You might want to try reading 'A wrinkle in time' to her, if it's not too scary.

smiles,
grin

Oh, my stars, they have a village full...first there were Verty and Ochre, who lived at the farm up the road (next to the South African sausage maker), who owned a restaurant in Italy and went there on Thursdays to cover the chef's day off...

Then there were King Richard, Prince Ethelred, and William the Courtsman, who spent their days fighting the evil Prustes and championing the fair Sonica...

These days, it's the Cabin Boy, the Hero, and the Navigator, who are sailing a sloop around the world and discovering at least one new species on each continent...

Oh, and I mustn't forget the Ghost of Booglaboo...

Caitlyn sounds quite useful--maybe she could bend me back to 29 or so!

Seriously, the gang of characters is quite useful--if people are getting a bit rude, I just say, "would Prince Ethelred speak to the Queen Mother that way?", and that's usually the end of the problem.

Don't worry--she sounds delightful! Just have fun, and store up all these stories like treasures in your heart...

peace
minnie

Thanks, Grinity and Minnie! I do love A Wrinkle in Time, which is what I thought of immediately, but she's not ready for that yet (or The Matrix, which uses a telephone). My gosh, I'm not even sure DD knows what "time" is.

Minnie, last night DD was crawling along the back of the couch, saying, "Ha ha! My cousins are following me!" and she had "people with no names" out in the back yard who "have not been born yet." Maybe not character-driven people, but I"m going to treat it that way.

DD is highly theatrical. I plan to check into the singing-dancing-acting class when she reaches the minimum age. She's a hoot!

Here a great one to read. It was you Blue Kangaroo. It is about an imaginary freind that get blamed for what the little girl does.

My kids both had imaginary friends. My DS9 had buz light year.

I wish I could remember my daughters. you better right this stuff down.

Cool! I love time benders. Don't forget to write down these great stories!


DS5 has talked to the ghosts in our house since he was about 2. (Well, I kind of hope they are imaginary.) Just yesterday, I heard him talking right after he woke up, and he told me he was just talking to the 2 ghosts in his room. He also has a whole never-ending imaginary world story that he and his grandma make up together.

I love the stories. They cracked me up. My kids have friends too. Lately the friends have been breaking a lot of rules so I have told DD3 that she cannot play with friends who don't respect rules. That has worked to stop them. If only I could have that much control over the kids. hehehe

LOL SPG, I really hope your ghosts are imaginary. My DS7 when he was 2 used to describe them to me and I spent many nights awake. He never seemed bothered by them either like your son. Scarrrryyyy. Never have been able to watch "The sixth sense" since.

Glad everybody still has lots of "company" at home these days! Y'all with the resident ghosts and nameless unborn backyard inhabitants need to read your kids the "Green Knowe" books when they're old enough--just the ticket, I'd say...

peace
minnie

Oh, I do miss my oldest's imaginary friends. We did call them her I.F. She had so many! I think the peak was probably from before 2 to 3 or so. We believe that her sister becoming more interactive took over the IF.

They were all related to one another, had backstories, got married, had imaginary babies, etc. The most confusing part is that she had at least 4 Ticos at some point, one was based on Dora's character; one was a green-nosed moose.

She is bilingual (we only speak Sp. at home) as were most of her IF, but one of them only spoke English. Usually she spoke to them in Sp. if she was with us, and in Eng. if with her nanny. IT cracked us up, however, when she was having conversations in Sp. with us (say at the dinner table), and then turned and spoke in English to IF.

A few tidbits on IF:
- much more common in gifted dc
- more common in highly verbal kids (these 2 combined make me think, in our dd's case for example, she had no real peers who spoke nearly as well as she did....)
- many fiction writers report having had IF
- more common in only children.
- more prevalent in girls than boys.

Forgot to say 2 things. 1) the time bending is hilarious! 2) Enjoy them while they last. While I have heard of many kids losing their friends over a specific incident (getting lost on vacation, dying, etc.) our DD's simply slowly disappeared. We suddenly realized they were gone.

I still remember my imaginary friends! Their names were "Squeaky" and "Bookey" and I had to leave them behind when I moved cross country at the age of four. I'm still not entirely clear on whether it was my idea or my parents' to leave them behind.

My DD8 had a wonderful IF named "Prince John", who disappeared around the time she was 4.5, when her little brother was born. I happened to notice he hadn't been around lately, so I asked her about him. She told me that he'd left on a long trip and he was too busy and didn't have time for her any more. Ouch.

oooh that's so sad Trillium!!! Little man (3.5) has loads of imaginary friends - Minnie, your stories cracked me up b/c they're as out there as little man's! My sister-in-law insists i should write a kids book based on all of his characters and their various and sundry adventures. I just can't keep up! They're hysterical! the best part is many are in part based on stuffed animals - so they are sometimes tied to the physicality of the stuffed animal, and sometimes have a world unto their own.

The stories keep us in stitches most meals. The adventures! the travels! the intricate family webs! They all live in alternate universes known as "my new york" or other such places. A recent favorite, one of the friends went to Leon, Mexico to tame lions for vacation. (big man's (7) love of geography tends to color little man's locales quite a bit... ) ;-)

like someone else said - treasure it! i will be so sad the day these friends dissappear!
(Mam - find it funny, we're also a bilingual household and some of the friends / family are clearly spanish speakers while others are clearly english speakers too....)

DS has had a host of 'brothers' and 'sisters' - he's an only child, we thought they had all disappeared until a few weeks ago when he wrote out his father's day card... love from your son JD and daughter Fern. (I think she is from Charlotte's web and is obviously hanging around still).

DD3 has started in on this a couple months back, yesterday she bounced into our bedroom and was chattering about all the itty bitty people that live in the house. (I wonder what she's imagining, I thought imaginary friends were mostly regular sized?)

Anyhow, it certainly is entertaining. She adds details when she wants to but usually direct questions from me don't result in much more info...very curious indeed.

Thanks for the tidbits. It makes sense and definitely explains my DD. She was/is a very verbal kid and has been since 3 months old and she is an only child. She, too, has problems connecting with kids her own age or even a little older. Her imaginary friends are abundant but mostly they are taken from books she reads or animals: real or stuffed. She has forever changed her voice for the IF when in a conversation with them.

I had to smile when reading about the time bending; great imagination there Seablue. And you should definitely enroll her in the art, theater and dance program. I suspect she will love it.

What a considerate IF to sign the birthday card! Gee, that Fern is so thoughtful! LOL

How do I trade in DD3s trouble-making friends for the kind, considerate ones? I would love a bday card from an IF. What a sweatheart your son is.

DS7.5 had 2 imaginary friends when he was about 18mo until he was 4 or so. Buttcake (we started calling him B.C. for obvious reasons, lol) and Dommer. B.C. used to teach him songs and right around 2.5 when his baby brother was getting mobile, he learned a song that went "Because it's *MINE* and it's NOT yours, but it *IS* mine!"- sung with an adorable sing song-y voice.

Dommer and B.C. were cousins and they went on all sorts of adventures together. When DS5 was old enough, around 2 maybe, he adopted them, too. I used to joke that it was so sad that everything he owned was a hand-me-down, even his imaginary friends, lol. Last I heard they had moved to another planet that they found when they were out in their space ship.

Somehow DD3 has never had an imaginary friend. I think her brothers keep her busy enough that she just doesn't have time. She's also just very logical and I don't think it would occur to her to make up a whole pretend person.

DS7 had an imaginary cousin a couple years ago. His name was George, and he lived in Washington. Or Peru. Or quite a few other places, I guess he moved a lot. I had forgotten about him!

Oh he is a sweetheart which makes me think he would have been a great big brother and what a shame he'll never experience that - the same as being half way round the world he doesn't see his cousins either and why it breaks my heart that he is so lonely at school because I know given the chance he would be a great friend to have. At least he gets heaps of love from all the grownups in his life (and of course Fern )

I was reading this earlier and thinking Ds (just turned 4 last week) was too much like me to have IFs. I was too 'left brain', I think, to have an IF.

He walked up to me later with his little hands cupped together and says "here, hold my baby". His name is Boy. Not very creative. Maybe he just hasn't thought of one yet. The baby is sleeping on the ottoman in his room. I don't think my DH knows what to think of it. He sat on the IF baby tonight so, I think I am going to have to have a talk with him.


Isn't that weird? It was not an hour or two after reading this!


Ugh, forgive my grammar, I can hardly type. I better get to bed. Zzzzzzzzzz