My husband asked me the other day if it was time to intervene with our four year old's imaginary friends, to which I replied, "Absolutely not!"  Charles expressed his concern that the particular friends at issue have been around a long time and it was starting to concern him that our son is making unrealistic connections with people who don't exist.

To wit, the current friends are: Cody, Honcho, and Miije.  Or as Ethan would say it, "My friends, Cody, Honcho, and Miije (he's a boy)."  I just thought it was randomly cute he added the gender identifier at the end of Miije's name, but apparently, even with his imaginary friends he feels the need to be specific.  I later found out that Miije is the name of an adorable little girl from his pre-school class.  But his Miije, he's a boy.  Cody is the name of his cousin's Australian Sheepdog, and Honcho comes from an episode of the Backyardigans, circa 2004. 

I don't particularly mind these three.  Ethan never asks me to communicate with them, I don't have to set places for them at the dinner table, and by all accounts from Ethan, they live in a duplicate world to our own (same house, same routines, same age, and even the same underwear) with the only difference consisting of living without, get this, any parents. 

Charles mentioned he liked the princesses better.  Before the male trio currently in custody of my son's imagination, Ethan had an all female trio that consisted of Cinderella, Belle, and Jasmine.  "Why them?"  I asked one day.  "Because Cinderella wears gloves, Belle isn't scared of beasts, and Jasmine looks like you."  Ethan replied.  (Note to self: Remember to take Ethan to the eye doctor.)

I wasn't a fan of the princesses, however, because I had to buckle them in the car each time we went anywhere.  Yup, all three of them.  Those little divas had to go.  I'm sure Charles liked them better because, well, because he's a man, and because it provided several opportunities to instill valuable morals in Ethan.  Like when he asked if the princesses could sleep in his bed.  Daddy and son had a talk about getting married to one and only one special lady before anything like that happened. 

After giving it some thought, I tried to assure my husband this was very normal.  And, perhaps the reason Ethan is so fanatical about it is because whenever he expresses wild and crazy stories about the antics of his three buddies, everyone seems so incredibly interested, grinning widely and showing immense interest.  "Perhaps," I offered, "he's just practicing becoming a great storyteller."