James

We have entered the imaginary friend stage around these parts and our new addition to the family is James. The last month or so Olive started talking about James (of Sofia the First) being in her bed when she woke up (I don't care how young your daughter is, boy in bed=creepy). We later figured out she was having dreams about him. I'm sure I talked about this in one of my posts. They danced, drank wine, got married, etc. Well now James exists and he comes everywhere. It generally starts off in the morning with her eating breakfast and then pretending to hear a knock. She then has to open the door and ask him to come in. From then on James is part of the day. Today I squashed James when I sat on the couch to feed Otto. Geez! She holds hands with him and she brings him everywhere. Its funny and a bit creepy all at the same time. At first it was a bit bizarre to hear her carry on full conversations with air but then again I talk to myself ALL day and I'm kinda getting used to James and having him part of our life. I wonder why kids do this? I mean I know its totally normal but its just such an interesting stage.  She has a really vivid and creative imagination so I'm kinda excited to see how long James will stick around and what other friends will appear.

You know when you hear those stories about kids seeing ghosts and shit? The other day we were in the hallway and Olive screamed "BEARS!!!!" and I swear to you for a split second I was like holy shit there is a bear in the house. Just the way she said it, it was so real and the look on her face was like I'd imagine if someone saw a bear in their house. She has this weird fear of bears and she told me they were in the hallway. I know it sounds insane and totally crazy but what if kids just have a wild imagination and can see stuff that we can't.

I still remember to this day a dream I had or at least I think it was a dream. I was so young but it felt so real that till this day I can still remember the feeling. As I've gotten older I have forgotten details of the dream. I'm guessing this was when I was around 4 or 5 ish. It was my stuffed animals and they were talking. I remember looking into my closet at some part of the dream and it is so clear even now when I think about it. I remember the feeling of being scared and I think I was trying to tell my mom about it in my dream. There was a ton more to it but like I said over the years its faded but the feeling of the dream always remains. What the dream was isn't important but the fact that 30 years later I can still remember the feeling is kinda insane. There are actually a good handful of dreams that I had as a kid that I can still remember. I think its just so amazing how our memory works and what we retain and hold on to. Totally off the subject of imaginary friends but just crazy how kid brains work. Keeping it nice and weird around here.

Holding hands with James.