Introducing...Santa!

It appears that we have a new, person, staying at our house.

About 2-3weeks ago, we were introduced to Khiarna's newest friend.

His name is Santa,

He is about 10cms tall,

and he is imaginary.

:

I was confused at first.

Here were my mother-inlaw and I, packing boxes;

While Khiarna is running up and down the length of the house, yelling "Santa's chasing Nar-Nar!"

At first I didn't pay much attention to what she was saying.

But when she kept going on and on about Santa chasing her, I got curious.

I stopped her to check what she was saying, thinking surely I'd heard wrong.

But nope, I was in fact hearing my 2yr old daughter telling me that Santa was chasing her.

So I asked some questions.

Trying to find out what she was talking about.

I told her to show me Santa, and take him to Grandma so she could meet him.

She gets down on her knees, and points to Santa (who is down on the floor, as he's tiny),

acts as if she's just grabbed someone's hand and is holding their hand, and leads the invisible santa over to Grandma.

After a few hours, Santa vanished.

I thought that was the end of our visit from Santa.

And that Khiarna had forgotten about him.

I was wrong!

Since then,

Santa has been a frequent guest in our house.

There is not a day that goes by, without some mention of him.

Luckily, he is slowly being mentioned less.

:)

I know this may sound mean,

but I'm not sure if we're meant to encourage this imaginary friend, or try to discourage it?

It seems innocent enough, but will encouraging her belief in an imaginary friend help her in the long run?

At first, Andrew tried the discouraging path, of trying to tell Khiarna that her friend, Santa, wasn't real. It sounded so mean, a Dad telling his 2yr old daughter that Santa is pretend. LOL.

But no matter how much we tried to tell her that he was pretend, Khiarna had no intentions of giving up on her new found friend.

He went to bed with her everynight, slept in her bed.

I would have to tuck both Khiarna and Santa in at night, give them both a cuddle and kiss, and tell them both that I love them.

Santa would sit and eat with Khiarna.

Whenever a car drove past, Khiarna would inform us that Santa was in that car.

I would find her, sitting on her own, squirming and giggling, and when asked what she was doing, she would tell me that "Santa's tickling Nar-Nar"...

Strangely enough though, when we'd go to other peoples houses, and I'd tell them about Khiarna's new friend, Santa was never with us.

He never left the house - apart from when he was in cars with strangers - he was only an at-home imaginary friend.

Then one day, I asked Khiarna where Santa was, and she told me "Santa's gone now",

we have had a few mentions of him since, but nothing like it was before.

Is it normal for a 2yr old to have an imaginary friend? I thought that kids were generally a bit older before they started getting imaginary friends!!

But, I've started to notice that Khiarna has a very vivid imagination.

On the car trip on our way home from Canberra the other weekend,

Khiarna told me that she could see a Kangaroo.

Later, the Kangaroo stole her dummy, and threw it out the window, into the forest!

We have Elephants visit us everyday, Kangaroos, Snakes, Rabbits, the lot!!

And her imagination is starting to come out in her play as well.

I'm not quite sure of how to explain it, but when she plays.

She seems so grown up.

Like an older kid is sitting in front of me playing.

She goes on adventures through forests,

she goes for walks to the shop,

She plays in the jungle with Elephants, Giraffes and Zebras.

Watching her very vivid imagination run wild before my eyes, makes me melt.

This little girl in front of me, with wide eyes, and an imagination that could put any writer to shame, she's mine. That little baby that I carried for 9 long months, the little baby that I held in my arms, cared for and nursed. The little baby that made my heart grow bigger than I ever thought possible, and this little girl, this little lady, sitting in front of me, so grown up, are one in the same.

How can that little baby of mine, already be so grown up.

Know so much,

And act older than her age,

And I not see any of it taking place?

I don't remember seeing my precious little baby girl, turning into a little lady.

Yet, I have spent every day with her since she was born, how could I possibly have missed it all?

No matter how much time I spend with her,

she just keeps growing up quicker than I can catch!!