We here at 5fordhams have a little experience with imaginary friends.
At a young age, Tess introduced Chi-Chi, Plum-Plum and Victy to our world. They had many grand adventures until one day, shortly after Tess turned 5, when I asked her what she had done with her friends that day. She looked at me with a very disturbed expression and said, "Daddy, they're just pretend."
That chapter of life soon closed and Mommy and Daddy learned an important lesson about asking our children awkward and embarrassing questions.
Later on, Maddie introduced us to the altogether wilder world of Huckle and Other Huckle. This time around, we avoided the hard questions to better prolong the fun. Maddie did point out once that Huckle was "just-pretend" but the frequency of her trips to the Maddieverse never slowed.
It turns that Maddie understands knows exactly what is what. She simply doesn't care whether anyone thinks she's silly. And we're right there with her as long as we continue to be invited to play with Other Huckle in Other England (who last summer had tea with the Other Queen).
Which brings us to the topic of today's post. We thought that Micah would skip this phase. His little boy universe has less room for narrative then the girls' worlds did. There's more banging and bashing and not as much time for tea parties with make-believe friends and stuffed animals.
Until now.
One of Piper's friends gave Micah BEVO last summer. The BEVO is a stuffed replica of the UT mascot. It has become quite real to Micah. Velveteen rabbitt real. Micah takes BEVO everywhere.
And, in a disturbing addition to the pattern his sisters followed, Micah has developed a special voice for BEVO. It's a very high pitched, nasally voice. LOUD, HIGH PITCHED and NASALLY.
I can tell you from both personal experience and the reactions of strangers that it's incredibly cute on first exposure. Unfortunately, this cuteness diminishes exponentially with exposure over time. Within the 400 sq ft confines of our German hotel room, BEVO VOICE is now driving all of us crazy.
This problem is compounded because BEVO has alot to say. Given that Micah is a light sleeper, much of what BEVO has to say is said while Micah jumps up and down on my chest (for emphasis) between the hours of 4 and 6 am.
Soon and very soon, I may slip and mention to Micah that BEVO isn't real.
2 comments:
Bwahahahahahaha! I love it! Bevo, my friend, is very, very real. And he's lovin' the Horns this season.
Hook 'em!
I don't know if y'all check comments for old posts, but I had to tell you this. John now has an imaginary friend - David. He was at my house the other day and "my friend David" was mentioned several times as well as a number of references to different parties we could have in different parts of the house. I was telling this to Stacy later and said, "Did he go to a party for his friend David and it's got him all worked up about parties?" Stacy looked at me with her very Stacy-look and said dryly, "Yeah. No one knows who David is." HA!
And at dinner last night:
Mom: So I was telling John that his daddy only has a sister like John only has a brother. And John said, "I have a sister." And I said, "Who's your sister?" And he said...
Paul: Let me guess. David?
Mom: Um, yes.
I'm so amused and amazed by all this. Will never had an imaginary friend. Leave it to John to be his own kid. :)
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