In the past couple months, Madelyn has made a bevy of new friends. She would always talk about them in the car, at home, in the cart at Trader Joe’s. She was making lots of friends at preschool, but these names were not part of her class. Golby and Guyee were part of her original crew, and lately, Hank has started hanging out, too. We quickly realized that these friends she passionately spoke about are her fictional, made-up, dare I say, imaginary friends. Let me tell you, there is nothing more entertaining than hearing about this world my toddler completely controls and creates.

Some people might be freaked out about imaginary friends, but I think it’s terrific. I love that she is expressing her imagination, piecing together parts from her real world to make up her own, and exploring her verbal communication which only seems to improve, and drastically! It’s a great glimpse into the way she sees her environment and circumstances. If this creates independent thoughts and ideas, then I’m all for it! I just follow her lead and acknowledge her fwiends, and Bryan and I giggle while her eyes are closed with detailed and dramatic storytelling.

Madelyn dressed up as a fairy princess and invited her imaginary friends to dance at the ball with her just after this picture.

So let’s introduce her friends, shall we? Madelyn talks about them here, but this is just one of many instances. I’ve gathered a lot of details about these characters over the months.

The first one to show up was Golby. Originally, it was Colby, but she has now lost her C and her name begins with a G. Golby has a pet horse, who’s white, named Amigo. She rides her everywhere. Including to work. Which is at the Apple store. Golby is always at work. Girlfriend NEVER gets any breaks, it seems, and I think she ought to complain to HR about some PTO. We might be in the middle of brushing teeth at bedtime, and Madelyn will blurt out of the blue, “Golby at work!”

Guyee is Golby’s partner in crime. Pronounced GUY-EE, this was the name Madelyn used to call herself for “Maddie.” Before she mastered the “M” sound, she substituted with “G” which is really random and actually makes no phonemic sense, but you know, we roll with things around here. So Maddie used to introduce herself as “Guy-ee” and we used to have to explain to people that she means “Maddie” and then they’d look at us like we must be speaking in tongues. This was, of course, way back when Madelyn was having speech therapy and more closely resembled Nell of the Forest than my genetic offspring.

Anyway, Guyee also works at the Apple store. Hmmm. Wonder if she is her father’s daughter.

Guyee gets a little more time off than Golby, apparently, as Guyee makes pretty regular appearances. Sometimes Madelyn announces her presence, and other times I just gather that Guyee is with us. They seem to have a pretty close relationship, like sisters, almost, as they have regular conversations that sometimes escalate into conflict and resolution. Thank goodness. I often hear them arguing in the back of my car while I’m driving. The other week, my mom was driving after a visit to Trader Joe’s, and Madelyn and Guyee were working out a tiff over the stickers. Allegedly, Maddie had the stickers, Guyee wanted them and took them, and they went back and forth over who got the stickers until finally Madelyn and Guyee made up and they said I love you back and forth to each other.

You see, Madelyn does the voices for her friends as well. She changes patter and inflection depending on who she’s playing. She asks questions and answers them. Sometimes we’ll be walking Princeton, and Madelyn will ask me to hold the leash. Because she’s really a good walker, I let her and the following will take place:
Madelyn: You want to hold the leash, Guyee?
Madelyn as Guyee: Yeah! Ok!
Madelyn: Ok here you go!
Madelyn as Guyee: Ok! Dank you!
Madelyn: Ok! Welcome!
Madelyn as Guyee: OK OK!
Madelyn: OK OK!

This goes on and on.

Lately, a newcomer has made an appearance. Hank. I’m a little nervous about Hank, to tell you the truth. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him and um, clearly, I can’t throw him.

Madelyn has told me that Guyee and Golby are kids. Hank, on the other hand, is a grown up. Why is a grown up hanging out with kids? And he has a beard and a mustache. And he drives a white van. She also says he’s not nice. If he starts offering candy, I’m telling her to ditch Hank. My gut tells me he’s bad news, but how do you break up with an imaginary friend? Hank, though, does not work at the Apple store. He works at Trader Joe’s. I asked her how they met: of course, a restaurant. Of course.

I sat down and asked Madelyn what her friends look like, because, you know, I want to put a face with the name. She doesn’t seem to blink an eye about my not being able to see her friends, so she just rolled with it.

Madelyn says, “Golby has pink hair and gween eyebrows and wears a bwoo dress. WITH BUTTONS, Mommy! And she has purpur lips and a bow in her hair. And the bow is pink.”

Madelyn says, “Guyee has a blue dress with pink polka dots. She has pink hair with pink eyelashes and blue eyes. She wears a bow. NO TWO bows. They are pink. And shoes. They’re bwoo.”

Madelyn says, “Hank has purple hair with bwoo eyebrows. He also has a beard and a muss-ash. It’s gween. He wears a bwoo shirt with buttons. They’re orange. And purpur pants. He’s not a kid, he’s a grown up.”

Sometimes, the whole thing gets a little too Haley Joel Osment for me and I think she’s seeing spooky things. We were looking at family photos the other night and asked Madelyn to name all the people in the picture. From right to left, she pointed: “Mommy, Bubbie, Gigi, Mimi, Gamma, Maddie, Guyee, Golby, Hank, Auntie Ass-in.” Ummmmmmmm.

Dear Ryan Murphy. I have your next American Horror Story plotline for you: IMAGINARY FRIENDS. You’re welcome.

People say that these friends could be temporary or they could hang around for a few years. To be honest, I’ve really enjoyed Guyee and Golby’s company (Hank, not so much. He’s a creeper) and hey, they’re cheap to entertain and require no room and board, so it’s not even like they’re mooching. I think I’ll be sad when her friends leave Madelyn and move on to some other little girl’s imagination.

For now, I’m happy to make room for them on the couch as Madelyn watches Frozen with them, does coloring pages with them, and even eats dinner with them. Good friends are hard to find. Guyee and Golby are lucky to have Maddie.