Playing Pretend

Finley used to be very particular about us calling him Finley, and nothing else.  When I said, "I love you, sweetie." Or, "Thank you, little buddy!" He would--without missing a beat--exclaim, "NOT SWEETIE! FINLEY!"

And we're still doing that--to an extent.  Now when I say, "Thank you, Finley!" He says, "NOT FINLEY! MICKEY!"  Because that's who he is now.  Mickey Mouse.  Copper is Pluto.  I'm either Daisy or Minnie.  Braden is Goofy Baby (obviously) and Sol is Donald Duck.  Without fail, he refers to Copper as Pluto. Sometimes he slips up on the other ones, but Copper is always Pluto.  He also calls our house "the Clubhouse" and when he picks things up with his hands, he calls them the "handy cranes."  It's actually hilarious to watch.  Here's a short video of him describing his new friends...



And then he created another layer--fueled by our frequent trip to Pinkberry.  He was playing at his kitchen and making things for the monkeys (again, obviously) and exclaimed to me, "I'm Pinkberry man!"  My normal response to him is to kind of repeat back what he said to me to clarify so I said, "Finley, you're the Pinkberry man?"

And of course he replied, "NO! Mickey is the Pinkberry man." Of course.

This is the monkeys at "Pinkberry."

When people ask him what his name is when we are out he always responds with Mickey Mouse instead of Finley.  Silly guy.

His other alter ego is being a trash man. (I'm seriously laughing just typing this out because he's really just so funny about it.)  He likes to stand on the edge of things and hold on--just like the trash man does when he rides on the back of the trash truck.  And he likes to collect "trash" from around the house to put places.  Sol humors him (and Braden) by playing trash man with him on his red car...





They are serious about it.  Sol runs up and down the cul de sac and the boys ride around collecting trash.



It's really cute.



Needless to say, it's sometimes a little confusing around here. Either way, that little guys is turning three tomorrow.  He'll be my sweet baby Finley no matter who he says he is.