Ellian

We had a "visitor" at our house tonight. As I was bathing Isaiah, Aphia came into the bathroom and let me know that "Ellian" was sitting on the stairs. I continued the conversation with, "Oh! Who is Ellian?" "She's my friend and she's 3." "Cool, did she come to visit us?" I asked. "Yep, she lives with her mom and dad. But her dad died," Aphia said looking rather sad. "Oh, that's too bad. How did her dad die?" I asked. "He went to the doctor and then got hurt and then he died." "Does she have brothers or sisters?" "No, just a mom and a dad, but her dad is dead." "Ok, where does she live?" I pressed on. "Where do me and Ellian live?" "No, where does Ellian live?" she seemed to want to evade the question and so continued with, "Her nickname is Ellie. We can call her that." "Ok, well then where does Ellie live?" "Me and Ellie?" "No, just Ellie." "Um, she lives with her mom, because her dad died." She seemed sad, but matter of fact about it. "She's here to play with me, but right now she's sitting over on the steps."

The conversation continued a bit about Ellian, but died away when the kids realized that Nature was on, on PBS in a minute, and Ellian didn't get mentioned again.

I think it is comical when imaginary friends show up. It just makes me wonder what is going on in the little brain of the one conjuring them up. An old neighbor girl once had an imaginary friend who could do all the things that she couldn't. "Saphina" could talk back to her parents and disobey, she could stay up as late as she wanted, she could hit and kick and stick out her tongue. My sister used to have her "grandfather" which was also a little funny since both of our grandpas died many, many years before we were born.

I do not remember Jonah ever having an imaginary friend. But I often tease about how he's not an "out of the box" thinker, much like his Papa. I also often tease Jeremiah about how rigid he was/is in his playing and how he had the imagination of a rock. Sure he'd play, but it was never anything remotely outlandish. Very real, practical, methodical, and logistical he was/is. When I say, "Let's pretend..." to the kids, Jeremiah kind of cocks his head to the side like puppies do, like he hasn't the foggiest idea of what I'm saying. It's pretty cute!

I know this to be true: my daughter is much too much like her mom. Be it her imagination, or her need to be partying with the group (as she proved last night, staying up until 11:30 because she did not want to miss out on what was going on with grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles), her fiery temper, or her excitement for anything! It excited me when Ellian came to play today, it made me smile getting to talk with Aphia about her pretend friend.