My sister who is younger than me, used to have imaginary friends also. She was about 3-4 years old at the time. Their names were "Frankie" and "Johnny". One was red and the other was green. She would constantly talk to these "invisible" people and play with them. She would aske them questions and according to her, they would answere her back. It was phase she went through. My toddlers ages 4 and 5 do the same thing at times. It is only their own imagination being creative. One thing that helped to get my sister from having imanginary friends was that my mom took her to play with other "real" kids. Eventually her invisible friends went somewhere else. I think it is just a phase they go through and they are just being creative in their imagination. My sister was the baby of the family and she had no one to play with so she made up her own friends. Hope this helps some.
Thanks for your reply... the only thing is, your sister had friends that were different people than herself.
Valerie has cast off her own identity and is pretending to be another person. That's what's freaking me out. I mean, it's to the point where she's never "herself". If you call her Valerie, she gets angry and yells "NO I'M TIMMY". Last night, she was crying at the restaurant because she said "Valerie" was left in the car. I mean, she had a 15 minute hissy fit.
Maybe having regular playdates can help with this, and also getting her into preschool. Thanks. I'm hoping it's just a phase.
