Here’s the back story on the little (I mean, I guess he’s little – it’s not like I have ever seen him) guy she calls Gavin. Her best friend, Morgan, goes to preschool with a boy named Gavin and is in love with him. Seriously. I could write an entire blog simply about Mo’s love for this kid. For example, one time I was watching the kids at Morgan’s house and a movie trailer came on for some romantic comedy and Morgan said, just like a sixteen year old girl would say,“My boyfriend Gavin is gonna take me to see that movie.” And folks, she wasn’t kidding. The stories are absolutely endless when it comes to Morgan’s love for Gavin.
Needless to say, Mo’s unwavering love spills over into the imaginary world too – I guess to compensate for the fact that they can’t be together all of the time. Therefore, Gavin is often her imaginary playmate as well as her “real life boyfriend.” And due to the ridiculous amount of time that Hannah and Morgan spend together, I see it as only natural when Hannah pretends that Gavin is around when she is playing with Morgan. And, I guess it is somewhat normal that he would eventually creep up in playtime with Hannah even when Morgan isn’t around.
Pictured above: Hannah, left; Morgan, middle; Gavin, right. You do see him, don't you?!At first, it was about once a week or so that I would overhear her playing with Gavin in her playroom. Then, it increased to every other day he would be around. Well, now we are at the point where Gavin is with us pretty much all the time. Sometimes I even have to make room for Gavin at the table. And even as I write this, I just overheard Mike tell Hannah to come upstairs to get her PJs on and as she was leaving to go up the stairs she yelled back at him “Okay, daddy – but can you watch Gavin for me? He’s been in trouble and he needs to sit on the steps in timeout.” (And, in case you were wondering, yes, Mike played along and politely said “Go on buddy – go sit on the steps in timeout.”)
This leads to that which I have noticed much more frequently in Hannah’s playtime with her little friend: Gavin is ALWAYS getting in trouble. Here’s a perfect example - today I was in another room and I heard Hannah squealing “Stop it! Gavin, stop it now! Ouch – I mean it, STOP!!!” I swear, folks, it sounded like she was in a serious fist fight with someone. And apparently she was. As I rounded the corner into the room, I said “Hannah, what is the problem in here?” She replied “Gavin’s hitting me and he won’t stop.” Oh dear.
The other day we got into the van and I noticed that the little light above Hannah’s seat was on. I asked if she turned it on and she said no. She said it so matter-of-factly that I actually believed her. Mistake number one. I asked her to reach up and turn it off, which she promptly did. A few minutes later, she said with a sheepish little smile and those big blue eyes “Mommy, Gavin’s the one who turned the light on – not me.” I replied skeptically “Now Hannah are you sure about that? Do you really think Gavin turned the light on?” She answered “No. I did it. I was just telling a lie.” And she actually giggled about it.
In that moment, it became very clear to me that Hannah not only knows the difference between a lie and the truth (which, until now, is a concept that I wasn’t sure she had officially grasped), but she has actually learned to blame her bad behavior on others. OTHERS WHO AREN’T EVEN REALLY THERE. Oh yea, good times, good times.
2 comments:
love it love it love it!
mike is a good sport, too.
also love the picture of gavin. his curls are adorable. no wonder he's slaying the ladies. he does have a gleam of mischief in his eye, though.
(you have a typo in the photo caption: "seem" instead of "see.")
this is good stuff. she is strengthening the creative part of her brain, right?
Skylar's imaginary friend was appropriately named "Clear". Clear was sick a lot and we had to take care of him/her.
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