I was really happy when Annalisa and Kyra announced the theme for this blog hop. I love that I wasn't the only crazy chicka who had imaginary friends growing up. (Hmmm, I wonder if it's a writer thing ?)
My favorite imaginary friend was one I named Johnny Appleseed. Johnny was a country bumpkin and kind of ignorant. He did everything backwards and/or wrong and I blamed him for absolutely anything I did not want to take responsibility for. I remember telling my mom (very seriously) that Johnny was the one who drank all the milk and then placed the empty carton back on the refrigerator shelf, just to prove to her that he was real.... (LOL)
Now that I'm grown and have my own kids, I should have known all of the imaginary friend antics I pulled on my mother would come back to haunt me. You know, karma and all that..
On that note, allow me introduce you to my daughter Franchesca's imaginary friend: His name is Jean Pierre. JP for short. Unlike my imaginary friend, he's a grand boulevardier! He hails from Paris, but if he gets nervous or upset, he will forget to speak English. Franchesca started asking The Husband and I to pay for French lessons a few years back, so she could communicate with him better. (LOL)
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| Here is a picture my daughter drew of good old Jean Pierre, mon Dieu!! |
You see, he's a bit of a trickster, and he will pull funny pranks. For instance, he will steal socks out of the dryer so you can never find a matched pair! But JP's pranks are all harmless, he's very kind at heart and likes to laugh a lot. JP's got a chubby belly like Santa "because all his favorite foods are really fattening and stuff". Oh, and of course, grown ups can't see him, only kids : )
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| JP started appearing right around the time Franchesca discovered Bemelmans' Madeline books... Hmmm, I wonder if that's a coincidence? LOL |
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ReplyDeleteThank you very much Steve. I will be sure to check it out.
DeleteSo did you get her the French lessons?
ReplyDeleteKind of- I took six years of French so I started teaching her myself with some books, music, CDs and videos. I think she has a great ear for picking up languages and is an excellent student. She has already learned a lot of conversational French. I'd like to be able to invest in a proper tutor, but unfortunately, can't really swing it in our finances right now.
DeleteLmao, I love hat your daughter wanted French lessons to communicate with him better! Excellent stuff!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining in with the bloghop!
Oops. That, not hat lol!
DeleteThank so much for hosting Kyra! And I knew you meant "that" not hat. LOL
DeleteHave a great weekend!!
I love that she asked for French lessons! That is too cute!
ReplyDeleteShe's too much. She made up her own language too, she calls it "Francaneese" My kids are a trip!!
DeleteJP has a good name
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha- thanks Adam. I'll tell her.
DeleteI love the French lessons too. I'm with JP on the chocolate truffles and cheese though - they don't last long in my company either...
ReplyDeleteHi Annalisa- yeah, I was a bit put out when my truffles started disappearing. Then I was "told" I couldn't be mad because JP just can't help himself when he's around chocolate!!! Seriously, that kid of mine cracks me up.
DeleteI never had an imaginary friend and I always wondered how other kids did. But this is the cutest thing! JP sounds like a character and your daughter sounds super clever and cute!! My daughter however has one and his name is Spiderman. Ack! I really dislike him. ;)
ReplyDeleteShe named him Spiderman? That's so funny! I wonder what made her think of him. Kids are just too funny sometimes with the stuff they can dream up. But then again, so are we writers, right? LOL
DeleteI've never had an imaginary friend growing up, but as a writer, I sure have a lot now. :)
ReplyDeleteFor sure! I have way too many IF running around in my brain now; and if I don't write them out, they will surely start fighting with each other up in there, LOL
DeleteHow fun for your daughter. I never had an imaginary friend. My sister did and she had almost a much fun with hers as your daughter is having with hers. What a great imagination!
ReplyDeleteShe's something, that's for sure. Jenn, thanks for commenting and stopping by!!
DeleteIt's amazing how sophisticated kids are, these days. I mean, from "Johnny Appleseed" to "Jean Pierre" and French lessons....mon Dieu, indeed :)
ReplyDeleteI know, right? How funny. I really think it has something to do with her love of all things Madeline and France. Not sure what my excuse was- lol
DeleteI named my daughter Madeline because I love those books so much. What an awesome friend to have!
ReplyDeleteAw- that's such a beautiful name. The Madeline books are such a timeless classic- I love them too. I couldn't wait for my daughter to read them for the first time, knowing she was going to go bananas for them!
DeleteI think JP could be wandering at the Dragon Cave laundry room. I knew the dwarves losing their socks was due to a mysterious thief. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly a possibility especially if the dragon hoarded any chocolate and left that out somewhere in it's lair-
DeleteThanks for popping in Al!!
Franchesca can come visit me!!! I speak fluent French and have tried and tried and tried to teach my kids, but they want no part of it. When my daughter was little she used to cover my mouth with her hands and tell me to, "Stop Talking like Babar!"
ReplyDelete"Stop talking like Babar" LOL That's so funny Johanna! Frankie would adore you.
DeleteYou know what they say, if you don't use it, you loose it. And that's the case with the French I was taught. Although, I have to admit, with Frankie peppering me with all of the "how do you say this or that in French?" it started to come back to me. Oh, and she asks me to switch all of her favorite DVDs (if they have the feature and surprisingly more than half do) from English to French- It's another great way to learn, and much more accurate than memory faulty old mom. lol
Aww! JP sounds awesome! And that's funny your imaginary friend's name was Johnny Appleseed.
ReplyDeleteI have absolutely no idea where I came up with that name either! He started coming around and hanging out with me when I was about four or five. He even made it cross country with us, when my family moved from NJ to California. But he didn't last long in sunny California. He was not too fond of the weather-lol (more like I was able to go outside to play a whole lot more in CA, and ditched him)
DeleteThat's great that she wanted French lessons to talk to him better. Very cute. That Johnny sounds like a rascal.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, I'm not entirely certain how my mom listened to me drone on and on about Johnny Appleseed doing all of the stuff I blamed him for and kept such a straight face!! She's one in a million.
DeleteThanks for stopping by M Pax!
French lessons. LOL. That's cool that she had a a French person. She's pretty creative.
ReplyDeleteHi Suzi- Oh yeah, she's creative alright and a bit of a nutter, but what can I say, other than, she takes after her mother !?! LOL
DeleteThanks for commenting.
That's such a wonderful imaginary friend. That's a pretty sweet looking cake too!
ReplyDeleteHey Christine- Oh my gosh that cake was a Frankie special-chocolate with chocolate mousse layers. It melted in your mouth. I could drool all over my keyboard just thinking about how good it was. LOL A very talented friend of ours made that cake especially for Frankie's b-day a couple of years back. She went bananas when she saw it. Then I went bananas when I tasted it!
DeleteJP sounds wonderfully cultured. Love the cake, my daughter, Matilda, has a French obsession (from a different book) and would have loved a friend like JP, she had many when she was younger, and they were all called... Matilda.
ReplyDeleteJP, apparently, lives quite a posh life in Paris. (lol)
DeleteMatilda is fabulous and another favorite book around here too. But her favorite of-all-time- is a book called "Little Bo in France" written by none other than Julie Andrews! Franchesca takes that book everywhere we go and reads it just about every night- If Matilda didn't discover it yet, it's a good one. I mean, how could you go wrong with a book written by Mary Poppins? lol
Thanks for the follow and stopping in! Welcome to the Bird's Nest.
Johnny Appleseed sounds hilarious, and it's great Franchesca wanted French lessons to communicate with JP. :D
ReplyDeleteI feel like such a dork now, compared to what my kid created. She has quite an imagination.
DeleteThat is insanely creative. I love it. What a backstory. All of my imaginary friends as a kid paled in comparison to the depth of the great Jean Pierre.
ReplyDeleteB- you have no idea. Some of her tales of what JP does while out on the town in Paris, are freaking hilarious. If she lets me, I will post one. Frankie has a wicked sense of humor and is completely bananas; I have no idea how she comes up with the stories she tells. :)
DeleteLove JP-and your daughter taking French lessons. Also, that Madeline cake-I'm impressed! Growing up I had 6 siblings, so I don't remember any imaginary friends (beyond books), but I'm going to keep my wheels turning. I must have had someone, right? Also, reading this bloghop makes me want to watch Drop Dead Fred again.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny Robin- a lot of people mentioned the movie "Drop Dead Fred" after this blog hop. I never saw it- but I want to now!!
DeleteThanks for popping in and commenting-