...the true confessions of mrs. olson...

Allow me to introduce to you a member of our family that you may have not been aware of…

Danielle.

Danielle has been Lily’s imaginary friend/sister for the last 10 months… and I think she’s here to stay. I’ve heard that imaginary friends are a mark of genius… although… I’m not sure if an imaginary friend counts when you don’t play with them… only talk about them CONSTANTLY.

Here are some things we know about Danielle:

(all Danielle facts were told to us at random, out of the blue, by Lily)

- Danielle is 6 years old.

-Danielle drives a car and has a job.

-Danielle has a brother named Daniel.

-Danielle carries her baby brother in her tummy.

-Danielle loves bologna sandwiches.

-dinosaurs still exist at Danielle’s house.

- Danielle married her brother on the beach.

-Danielle’s birthday was on Saturday, but she had the flu. It was supposed to be Hannah Montana themed. **sidenote: I asked if we could give Danielle a party and make her some cupcakes… but Danielle’s mom was already doing that. Her make-up party was ‘blue’ themed and going to be late at night. Only girls are allowed to come. Lily had already picked both of our outfits

-Danielle ALWAYS gets to spray paint at her house.

-Danielle has her own horse and several hamsters.

-Danielle performs in wild west shooting exhibitions on her horse at local fairs and rodeos.

-Danielle has a best friend named Becky.

-Danielle is ALWAYS rude and shy to people.

-anything you can do… Danielle can do better. Pretty much any story you can tell… Danielle has done something similar… but a little bit cooler.

-Danielle recently became a mom… and does EVERYTHING different than me.

-Danielle does not have to wash her hands after she goes potty… nor does she make her kids.

-Danielle says it is good to eat popsicles for breakfast.

I felt like a genius, when Lily was whining for me to put down Eli and go play with her. I looked at the door and said, “Oh, hey Danielle! Yeah, Lily’s right here… You want to go play in her room? … Sure, that sounds like a great idea!” Lily looked at me apprehensively, then ran to the door and gave her imaginary friend a big hug… keeping one eye on me… to insure that I wasn’t watching it happen. Then, she and Danielle skipped blissfully hand in hand back to Lily’s bedroom to play.

6 minutes later… Lily was back…. whining for me to put down Eli and come to her room … and pretend to be Danielle.

The other day, I asked if Lily could draw a picture of Danielle for me. She said she’d love to, but would have to wait until she was done with work. She then proceeded to drive her Dora scooter to work… on the front porch. All the while, she’s telling me that the scooter is like her car, but not really a car. “Oh!” I said, “Like a motor scooter.”

“No, mom. It’s called a Myrtle Scootle (makes a face like she’s contemplating what just came out of her mouth)… Yeah, a Myrtle Scootle. Danielle LOVES her Myrtle Scootle that she drives to work.”

Seriously. Where does she come up with this stuff?

The picture of Danielle never happened. It led to several screaming crying fits… before I gave up. I think Danielle’s ever-morphing age, race and lifestyle really pose a problem for Lily when trying to capture her in crayon. Oh well.

I’ll leave you, instead, with this video. Keep in mind it is 1 of 4:

Lily talks about 'Danielle' from Jeff Olson on Vimeo.