Dabwei hops!

Oh, the imagination of a two year old. If only we could go back to that age and live it again. No cares in the world. No bills, no packing, no stress. Just black and white things, like I'm hungry or thirsty mommy. But it just amazes me how far their imagination can take things sometimes.

Every two year old out there probably has some form of an imaginary friend, especially if they aren't around a lot of kids their age. And my son seems to be one of them. Now don't get me wrong. He is amazing with other kids his age and actually older. He loves to play with them and horse around. Now younger kids we're still working on because he doesn't understand why he can't play with them like he can with kids his age, but he isn't selfish or violent.

I found out yesterday that yes, Toby does have an imaginary friend, and that HE (he's definitely a HE. Toby was adamant about that along with a few other things, actually.) isn't small like Toby is. We were sitting on my bed yesterday (I was trying to get my youngest, Aidan, to scoot like he did the other day) and Toby was crawling all around Aidan and I while giggling and laughing and talking to someone that I just couldn't see. He had been doing stuff like that for a while now, and I kinda figured that it probably was an imaginary friend, but I didn't want to push the issue and make him feel like I wasn't giving him any privacy.

But yesterday I just couldn't resist. It was too cute just to let it go. I had to ask the ultimate question to my oldest son. "Honey, who are you talking to?" He got deathly quiet and looked over at me, almost a miffed expression on his face for a moment before he turned back to the air that was beside him and then giggled. He then smiled at me before replying.

"Friend."

Short, sweet, precise. I was surprised. He had never said that word before. So you can imagine my pride at that. But oh, the surprises didn't end there.

"Well, what's your friend's name?"

"Dabwei!"

Oh, that was a sucker punch in a sense. I don't even know where he got the idea for that name, because it sounds African, and he doesn't watch anything that has anything African in it. "Dabwei, huh? Dabwei is your friend's name?"

"Yus!" (you have to understand. My son can say yes, he just emphasizes it and says, "yus.")

Well, that got me thinking even more. My son had an imaginary friend, and the imaginary friend's name was Dabwei.

"Well, what is Dabwei?" I asked him, quite curious as to what he would say.

It was at that point that Toby pushed down hard in one spot on the bed before moving his hands in an arc and then pushing them down hard in another place. With a huge grin on his face, he replied to me, "Dabwei hop!"

Ah, more trivial information that isn't so trivial... or so I thought. I smiled at him before replying, "So Dabwei is a kangaroo?"

It was at that moment that Toby's smile on his face disappeared before he got an angry look to him. He shook his head and replied angrily to me, "No!" He even drew it out, which I silently laughed on the inside about.

"Well then, what is Dabwei, honey?" I asked, rather curious to see what creature he was going to say. What I got next blew my mind for the sole reason that he's only seen this creature once, and only heard the name of it once.

"Alligator!" Was his reply before puffing out his chest in pride.

I tried to tell him that alligator's don't hop, and he got mad at me and told me they did. So I then replied with an alright. I figured it wouldn't hurt to let him think that alligators hop, especially his friend Dabwei.

It was after our little conversation that I noticed it was no longer "I play." or "Drink?" It was "Dabwei, I play." and "Dabwei, I hungy." I guess now that I know about his secret, Dabwei isn't a secret.

Another interesting thought... Maybe he made up Dabwei to help him not be afraid of water or dark places... I even caught him last night using one of the boxes as a boat in his room. He was even rowing it and giggling and looking down outside the box, as if Dabwei was cruising alongside him. When Toby saw me at the door, he smiled before standing in his boat and going, "Dabwei I play!" I didn't know what to say to that, so I just said, "OK." and left him to it.

I'm wondering if I'm going to have to start making a separate plate at meal times for Dabwei so Toby feels like Dabwei gets food as well, or if I'm going to have to put extra food on Toby's dish.

So time will tell, but I have a feeling my son isn't going to be afraid of any bullies with his buddy Dabwei around, and that makes me feel great on the inside. So with the imagination of a two year old still slightly baffling my mind, I bid you all a farewell.

Bounty Hunter... out!