Annelise's Coping Mechanisms....

Poor Annelise. She has had a tough couple of days. Yesterday, her beloved bearded dragon from school ("Spike") passed away unexpectedly from strep that he probably got from a student. (He is the whole reason we had to get Henry, our bearded dragon.) She said she was so sad, that during singing time yesterday, she couldn't even sing. Then Emmaline went to spend the night with Aunt Libby last night so I could go on Annelise's field trip today. Well, the fact that A and E have been sleeping together for the past few months almost every night coupled with the fact that Annelise was totally exhausted last night made for a rough bedtime. She cried and moaned and had to go get all of Emmaline's animals that she sleeps with every night and put them in her bed. She begged for me or Brian to sleep in her bed with her. She begged to skip school and just go to Aunt Libby's so she could be with Emmaline. (All to no avail, unfortunately for her...) So it was no surprise to me when Annelise woke up and had "Sally, Angelina and Lily" with her. Who are they, you ask? They are Annelise's 3 imaginary baby bluebirds that seem to appear when Annelise is under a lot of stress or is really upset about something. It has been a while since I have heard of these 3 birds, but I didn't make a big deal out of it, because having them around makes her in a much better mood. According to her, they were asleep the whole way to school and then they woke up when we got there. That means that the whole walk to the school from the parking lot and the whole time we were waiting in the hall for her teacher to get there, she had her index finger pointed like a gun and held up in the air, because that is where they sat (duh...). I know there were some people who thought it was strange to see her with her hand frozen like that, but she didn't care a bit. I explained to her teacher and she was very understanding. At least she temporarily forgot about them on the field trip this morning. (Which was just ok, there was a lot of poop on that farm. A lot.) However, once I picked her up back at school this afternoon, she informed me that the baby bluebirds thoroughly enjoyed the field trip and that they learned a whole lot. I took her to lunch at "Ola's" (her name for any mexican restaurant) and I let her order fried ice cream for dessert- which she ate every bit of herself- I didn't even get a nibble. I have not seen or heard about the baby bluebirds, since. I have a feeling that once Emmaline comes home, tonight, they will be gone for a while again. I know that the experts say that imaginary friends exist to help kids cope with things and that is obviously true. (That would also explain why I had about 4 of them when I was little.....) Emmaline has one too, she calls it "baby pear" and it is very tiny and she holds it in the palm of her cupped hand. She gets very very upset when Annelise pretends to steal baby pear and cries over it. I have not seen baby pear for a long time, either. I am sure the bluebirds and the pear will show up again about the time we are getting ready to move this winter. I don't see it as a big deal and it does seem to comfort them, so I just go along with it. Hopefully Annelise will have a good week-end camping with Aunt Libby. Brian and I still have no idea what we are going to do with all that freedom. I think I just want to stay around here and maybe go antiquing in Tryon or something like that. I am sure we will think of something. At least I am almost done with this week. Just have to fix dinner tonight for us and Aunt Libby and Curt and then I will be pretty much home free. I wish I still had some imaginary friends sometimes- I could have used them this week!