My daughter's friend first started showing up at night after she would get into bed. My daughter would see her coming by the old-fashioned lantern she carries. The friend--who my daughter has named Please--then started coming in the mornings, too, which caused my daughter to start sleeping with her door open, to make it easier for Please to come in. Sometimes Please brings others with her--her "sister," "brother," and "parents." I'll explain the quotes in a minute.
Since we started talking about Please, Please shows up more regularly, especially if I'm around--my daughter will sometimes ask her to wait and then she'll come get me. We play the "Can Daddy see Please?" game. (So far, no dice...)
Please generally shows up when we're laughing and having fun. She watches and sometimes plays jokes on me... we have plenty of Abbott and Costello moments b/c of her name: my daughter will ask me, "Please throw me on the bean bag... No, I mean Daddy, will you please throw me?" Then I ask if Please is here, and my daughter starts laughing hysterically because Please has been standing right next to me. I always go with it.
My daughter has a very clear description of Please physically. We also think she's from Mississippi or Chicago. When Please started showing up, my daughter became petrified that the bath would overflow, and every night she would freak when we filled it up. One night when I gave her a hug to soothe her, I was overcome by an image like we saw on the news after Katrina--an entire town, submerged to the rooftops. I asked her to describe what she thought would happen if we let the bath run too long... one guess what image she described. Since then, her fear has subsided, and in fact she's grown more indepent in other ways recently as well.
I have no idea who Please's "family" is. My daughter gives specific and consistent descriptions of each member. They are different races and possibly represent different time periods, but my daughter is very clear about referring to them as sister/brother/mom/dad.
I've welcomed them all into our home--on the condition that they laugh and play with us and keep us all protected while they're here. Please seems to have been lost... for awhile she was "in space" and couldn't find her family, but now she's happy because "she found them" and because she loves hanging out with us.
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