DUMBO, and I'm not talking about the movie!

I don't have a picture of this yet, but Josh has a new friend. Unfortunately, he is the only one that can see him, Dumbo. Yes, it is an elephant. He has told me he is a baby elephant. Sometimes he cares for him (puts him to bed, plays with him, consoles him, one day he was feeding him tuna fish that was also invisible) and other times he doesn't even mention him.

I worry that this Dumbo may cause some problems. For instance, we were at a playgroup at the park and Josh kept running around saying "Come on Dumbo"! Many mothers were looking at Josh. I kept wondering if they were thinking, "What is that runt calling my child?" Or we were at church the other day and I guess Dumbo was with us. I told Josh he couldn't talk to him while he was at primary, with the other kids. I talked to his teacher later. It turned out that one of the kids thought that Josh was calling him a bad name and kept telling the teacher on Josh.

I am trying to tell Josh that Dumbo is not real, Josh says he knows and that he is using his imagination. I told him that the rest of us can't see Dumbo, but as long as he knows that, I am fine with his friend. Dumbo is no longer allowed to come to church with us. I never had an imaginary friend. I'm not quite sure what to do with this. But I am glad that he is using his imagination!