A new addition to the family

Hey – if Brett Favre and Lance Armstrong can do it…If Michael Jordan can do it and George Foreman can do it…If Cher and The Eagles can do it…well, then I can come out of retirement (from time to time), as well. And, like those who have dared to re-enter their respective fields of play before me, I, too, am only coming back to the biggest of news. We’ve welcomed a new addition to our household and I just had to shout from the rooftops.

I’m, of course, writing about K-Man’s new imaginary friend.

K-Man’s friend’s name is Do-To. Actually, I don’t know if that’s how it’s spelled. It could be Due-Too, or Due-to, or Deau-Teau, or Du-Tu or…Screw it. I’m going with Do-To. It’s the shortest. Since K-Man is abbreviated to K-Man in these parts, I might just go with DT. I suppose it doesn’t matter. What does matter, however, is that she (yes, DT is a baby girl) is now living in our house, going to school and generally showing up everywhere. (Given the fact that DT is just a baby, her most impressive feat, so far, might be that she apparently already knows how to swim.)

Her arrival was unannounced. She just moved right in. Although that might seem a might bit rude, we have accepted her. Naturally, I wondered if K-Man’s new friend was a sign of distress. K-Man just stared at a new school (which, is offering a huge amount of potential content for this blog) and I thought that he was uncomfortable or overwhelmed with his new surroundings. Enter DT. (And, she shows up everywhere – even when we didn’t know she was around. Chances are good she’s with me on the airplane right now and I just don’t know it!)

However, according to most childhood experts (real or otherwise), imaginary friends do not have anything to do with distress, but instead are a sign of creativity and intelligence. Fortunately, as coursed through my brain, we’re not talking the launch of multiple personalities, here! (I’m not just saying that because I think K-Man is smarter than your average bear. Google it if you don’t believe me.) Because of this, we’re only too happy to welcome her into our home. She doesn’t seem to take up too much space and leaves the dog alone. So, she can’t be all bad. (Plus, even though she’s a baby – she hasn’t ever required a new diaper. All in all, the imaginary newborn is much easier than the real one.)

All proud Papa stuff aside, I do see where the creativity comes from. I can see how creativity manifests itself with the arrival this new baby girl. It’s fascinating, really. K-Man sits with DT and has conversations with her. They talk about (what else?) fire trucks, firefighters and the dog. Oftentimes, DT will be sleeping (like any good baby) and K-Man will tell us that we need to be quiet. K-Man asks us to hold DT. He started to ask us to give her dinner, but then (as she does), she fell asleep. And, we, once again, needed to be quiet.

I love her name. K-Man says she has curly hair like his, but it’s brown like mine. Her name sounds kind of African. This is cool, as I’ve been playing my Djembe drum. Maybe when she gets a little older, she can help me get better. That, or he saw the To-Do Lists on my laptop and just got it backwards. Of course, he can’t read. So…I have no idea how he came up with Do-To. Maybe that’s part of the creativity, too? The name. If you name your imaginary friend something like Steve or Tom or Kate (no offense to any of those names) – maybe you’re not as creative.

I can’t remember if I had an imaginary friend. Apparently, if I did we weren’t all that close, or we had some kind of major fall-out that has separated us all these years. Maybe I’ll try to find him – or her – on Facebook if I can remember the name.

In the meantime. Shhhh. Do-To is sleeping.