the new coco and moppy

Who could forget Coco and Moppy? If you're wondering what those rascals have been up to--and who isn't, right?--I'll fill you in on what I've learned . They followed us to Austin, and at one point they were driving around town in a red Mini convertible. They recently moved into a house on Duval street, which happens to be on our way to/from Catcher's school everyday, but they like to come to our house every night for sleepovers. Sometimes I have to open the door for them to come in, which I don't mind. But I do mind that they are waking Catcher up at 5:00 in the morning and he can't--or rather won't--go back to sleep.

This afternoon on our way to the park I heard Catcher talking on the phone to Coco. I told him to let Coco know that he can't come over for sleepovers if he's going to wake Catcher up at 5:00am. "I'm not talking to that Coco," Catcher responded. "I'm talking to Scout's Coco." And then I hear a little voice concur, "Yeah. My Coco. It's my Moppy and my Coco." Can you share imaginary friends? Though I guess technically they aren't sharing since Scout appears to have her own Coco and Moppy.

I can't wait to see what shenanigans these two Moppys and two Cocos are going to get the kids into over the ensuing years. Will Tille have her own set? Can I handle three Cocos and three Moppys? How long do imaginary friends last anyway? I'll admit that when Catcher first started talking about Coco and Moppy, I freaked out a little bit. Never having had imaginary friends myself (except pretending, which sounds weird--pretending to have imaginary friends, because my sister had one) I was worried that Catcher might be schizophrenic...or something. I Googled "imaginary friends" and learned that it's totally normal for children (especially an only child or the eldest) to have them. It turns out that kids have pretty active imaginations. Go figure.