N’s latest infatuation is imaginary playing with P, a real friend who isn’t really always at our house.

Last night, N kept insisting that she wanted to take her bath in the morning. She moped on the bathroom floor, cried when I tried to get her ready for the tub, and so on.

Then she said that she wanted to go downstairs to play with P.

“Ah, but P’s already in the tub,” I said. “She’s playing with the toys there.” I went over to the now lukewarm water and splashed a bit with P.

Not one minute later, N was asking for a bath.