It's amazing how many children there are in our house these days. Actually, it's not just the children, it's the trains, chefs, contractors, animate food items and myriad animals, both sentient and not.

 

 A couple of months ago (sorry for the delay in writing) Arden began playing different personas. It began when he watched the video of a popular Noggin kids song called Victor Vito. He liked to play around saying, "Freddy?"

 To which I had to respond, "Yes, Victor?"

 And Arden would say, "How was Mommy Tabasco's day?" He had decided that if "Victor Vito and Freddy Vasco ate a burrito with tabasco," then "Tabasco" must be a third person.

 

 Well, from that point he began pretending to be someone else more and more. It is now ALL THE TIME. From the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep (including if he should wake in the middle of the night), Arden is never "Arden." In fact, anyone who calls him by his name (or refers to him in his earshot) gets an adamant, "I'm not Arden." And he continues protesting until the person corrects their mistake. Adults usually are OK with this once told. And children over three usually think it's fun (though they're confused at first when Arden starts crying that he's "not Arden"). But younger children are pretty thrown by it.

 

 The other amazing, amusing and difficult part is that all of his personas have corresponding names for Jen and me. If he is Thomas (the Tank Engine), then I am Gordon, and Jen is Lady the Magic Railroad. If he is Herky the Helicopter, then I am Jay Jay the Jet Plane, and Jen is Big Jake the Transport Plane. (Arden has no regard for male or female names or characters when playing this game.) If Arden is Engineer Small, Jen is Engineer Medium, and I am Engineer Big. And woe to the parent who should forget their name when the personas suddenly switch. Arden never makes a mistake as to who is who in the set and he can change on a dime. Naturally for those of us with more ossified brains, this is not so easy!

 

 I've put together a chart below of the groups of characters just to show you how many we need to keep track of. It's quite a big job. (Actually, typing this up is probably a good exercise for my own memory!)

 

 As you can see, most of the sets come from books we read or websites he visits. Sometimes we play real people, like the contractors who did our remodel, or friends or family. That can get really confusing as you might imagine. (Like playing cousins when we go to visit the cousins.)

 

 Assignment of the actual names usually seems fairly random. For example, he chose Herky the Helicopter, even though Jay Jay is clearly the main character of that set. But there are enough flashes of purpose to leave us guessing. The clearest meanings of all come when he assigns a name to his future younger brother.