The Formy Argester

(9PM, Natasha fights sleep at a hotel in Sacramento)

N: Let's play The Formy Argester! Does anyone know that game?

Mom: The Formy Argester? No, I don't.

Dad: Me neither. What is it?

N: Well, you argue with a monster and then you send them to jail.

Natasha plays on her own for awhile fighting monsters, at one point she addresses a monster directly: "We'll argue with you and do the egg nog thing!.....You'll have a really good nature, though."

T.V.

I walked into my bedroom to find Natasha holding the remote control to our skylight. Natasha opened and closed the skylight a few times while lying on the bed with her legs crossed in a loungey manner characteristic of a couch potato. She tried every button, watching the skylight change as a direct result of her button-pushing and then said:

"Well, I guess this is our TV."

St. Mona

(While putting clothes on our cat, Mona)

"Oh, Mona, you're a saint. Mona is a saint-cat. If you want to be a saint, I'll put these on you, Mona. I fear that you will do this. She's a cat so she needs to be saint. Here, Mona, you need underwear on your head to be a saint...Saints have rubberbands on themselves. You're a saint who looks out the window!"

(A story Natasha read aloud to a friend who was visiting)

"Once there was a pig. And he had a mom, but it was too short. So he went to find another mom. And then it got a Christmas tree and decorating things on it. And that's the end."

Princesses and Bunk Beds

(up in the loft with her grandmanana)

N: I'm in a bunk bed, look I'm way up on the top one!
G: You are? Way up there? Where have you seen a bunk bed.
N: No, I'm just pretending.
G: Oh, but where have you seen a real bunk bed?
N: I'm pretending I'm in a bunk bed!

--

(at the dinner table)

Dad: Tell Gramanana about Princess and the Pea, Natasha.
G: Did you read a book?
N: No.
G: Did you see a movie?
N: No.
G: Did you go see a play?
N: Yeah.
Dad: Tell her about the characters in the play. Who was in it?
N: There was a princess. She was very sensitive.

Where are you?

(At home while Mom is getting ready to go to work. Natasha picks up Mom's cell phone, opens it up and holds it to her ear)
N: Hello?
Mom: (next to her holding her hand to her ear as if it were a phone) Hi! Is that Natasha?
N: Yeah, it's me. Where are you mom?
Mom: I'm at work. Where are you?
N: I don't know.
Mom: You don't know? Is Daddy there?
N: No.
Mom: Do you know what street you are on?
N: No.
Mom: Hmm. Well...do you know how you got to where you are?
N: I don't know.
Mom: Wow. Sounds like you're in a Paul Auster novel.
N: Yeah. Bye! (closes the phone)

Realizing beetles

(playing by a tree on West Cliff Drive)

N: Hey, look, we can go under the tree.
Mom and Dad scuttle under a low branch obediently.
N: There are beetles here.
Mom: There are? What kind of beetles.
N: They're Salamentary beetles.
Mom: Where are they?
N: Up there. They have poisonous tongues.

-----

(washing hands after a rather messy dinner)

N: I didn't realized that I needed to wash my hands. I just realized that.
Dad: That's good to realize that you need to wash your hands.
N: I realized it. (and runs off)

The Boys and The Animals

Here is a list of all of Natasha's imaginary friends and animals. Although many started as real people they are now transformed into an all -imaginary cast and live at our house (or at least visit often):

The Boys:

Ralphie: approx. 8 years old, wears a red baseball hat backwards, orgin: a character in the Magic School Bus book series.

Kenny: approx. 8 years old, has a dog named Storm. Origin: a neighbor of one set of Natasha's grandparents

Chris: approx. 12 years old, wears a green hat backwards. Origin: had Happy Birthday sung to him at a restuarant where Natasha ate lunch over a year ago.

Peter: approx. 2 years old, Origin: an actual child that Natasha met at the park about a month ago.

Luca: 5 years old, Origin: a former member of Natasha's preschool community who now attends a local Kindergarten.

Kanta: about ten, character in "My Neighbor Totoro"

Pazu: 13 years old, character in "Castle in the Sky"

The boy: an unamed character in "Babe"

The Animals

Dandy: horse, lived at our neighbors Tom and Nancy's house, and before that lived in downtown Cupertino, now deceased.

Storm: dog, see Kenny above.

Shake-shots: cat, Shake-shots transformed this week to be a living cat. She is Mona's daughter and a kitten. Natasha let us know that she nurses Shake-shots.

Squirrel-Squirrel: squirrel, used to live with Natasha when she was a baby but then Squirrel-Squirrel moved to UCSC and lives outside of the Humanities 1 building.

Bunny-bun: rabbit, lived with us when Natasha was a baby, now lives outside the Social Sciences 1 building at UCSC.

Lulu: dog, belongs to a friend, Lulu is less of an imginary friend and more a dog Natasha likes to pretend to be at times.

The Kittens: cats, I haven't heard about them in awhile but there were a whole group of imaginary kittens living under our front deck for quite some time. Natasha fed them cut grass and acorns while refusing to get in the car for most of the summer.

Water Gophers: gophers of unknown origin, also lived under our deck and fed the leaves of an unknown deck plant.