It seems Fuller has developed a small army of imaginary friends.

I find this stage of life very amusing. I remember having imaginary friends. I remember having imaginary friends when I was probably too old to have imaginary friends. But, for an only child (until February) who hasn’t had much interaction with kids in the last three weeks (Christmas vacation and a lazy, pregnant mommy does that), it became the feeding ground for Fuller to invite more and more imaginary playmates into his life.

It started with “Imaginary Charlie” and “Imaginary Liam.” Both are based on actual Charlie and actual Liam (life sized!) and usually come out to play soon after an actual playdate with the actual friends. (Rabbit trail: Fuller uses the word “actually” quite often in his every day conversation. And, actually, it is quite cute.) Imaginary Charlie and Imaginary Liam will pick up the play where actual Charlie and actual Liam left off. They help Fuller make train tracks, play cars, and of course make a bigger mess in Fuller’s room.

Soon, Buck joined the list of “I can see him over there!” friends. We weren’t really sure if Buck was a friend or an alternate personality since Buck is an appropriate nickname for Fuller’s first name. And sometimes Fuller would tell us he was Buck. It was a tad confusing.

A few weeks ago, Van showed up to play piano. And drums. And other imaginary instruments that Fuller doesn’t own. Van is quiet musical. And he tends to get into trouble. Fuller will report Van is in time out and then two minutes later tell Van he can come out of time out.

Yesterday, Van’s friend came to visit. Her (the first girl in the bunch) name is Sho Wii. Fuller spelled it for me (insisting it was two words and pointing out the word “Wii” on one of our Wii games), and it sounds like it looks. Sho Wii and Van showed up soon after we got home from church and I told Fuller they could stay, but I was not making them lunch. Fuller replied he would make them lunch. They like spaghetti without sauce and with cheese, just like Fuller, actually. Van’s mommy came over and took them home later, but Van showed up to play drums again in the afternoon.

Fuller is still a bit bossy with his imaginary friends (as he tends to be with actual friends) so I try to tell him to be nicer to Van or Buck or whomever. I figure if he doesn’t get the real life interaction right now, he can still practice in his own simulated environment. And it saves us gas when all of his own friends show up here.

I’m still going to see if I can find someone real for him to play with later this week.

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