The World of Pure Imagination

Ella has officially entered the world of make believe. It has been nice in so many ways because she is able to entertain herself more.

She likes to imagine "friends" to play with whenever she is lonely. Her friends are not people though, they are animals. The first time one of these animals showed up was a recent evening while she was going to the bathroom. She made a loud announcement (though, all announcements with Ella are loud) that there was a snake in the bathroom. After a brief moment of panic on my behalf, I realized that the snake was only in Ella's mind and told her that there were no make believe snakes allowed in this house and if she saw any we could just pretend to chop of their heads and throw them in the trash (as a side note, I may or may not have an irrational fear of snakes). Ella didn't like this idea and felt the need to protect the snake. So, she pretended to pick him up in her hands and carry him around the rest of the day. Chris took her to the store and she spent the whole drive there, the whole ride in the cart, and the whole ride back with her hands clasped together, holding onto her snake.

Her snake friend shows up on random occasions but more often than not it is a lion that comes to visit. He is a fairly needy lion, always wanting baths and goldfish. He also tends to make messes that Ella swears are not her fault. He likes to wear dress up clothes and sleep in Ella's bed. He showed up at nap time a few days ago and Ella fell asleep with her hands clasped together while sucking her thumb.

I have realized that he is a lot smaller than I previously thought because he fits in one of Ella's hands. She just walks around with her hand out, holding him.

Sometimes he disappears for awhile but Ella can tell you he is only playing peek-a-boo. I keep telling her that our lease won't allow lions but it isn't sinking in because today the lion brought over two more lion friends (boy, did they eat a lot).