Marabelle

Over the past few weeks, Lucie has been introducing us to her imaginary friend, Marabelle. It started with a comment out of the blue one day during lunch. "Mommy," Lucie said, "we have to pick up my friend at the airport!" "Your friend?" I asked, not quite catching on yet. "Yes, Marabelle!" Oh, of course. How could I have forgotten her?

Like a Christmas advent calendar, Lucie reveals a new detail about her friend every day. We've learned that Marabelle lives in San Francisco. She often flies into town, sometimes asking to be picked up, other times claiming she's "too busy" to visit, or must instead spend her time "organizing things". Lucie will pick up her Elmo cell phone, say hello, and turn to me to say, "Mom, it's Marabelle! She's at the airport!" Marabelle is also known to communicate through rocks in the garden, fire truck hoses, or even carrots.

What else do we know about Marabelle? She rides in hot air balloons, and has a sister and a brother who are taller than her. Sometimes she's two and a half years old, other times, she's ten. She also has a friend named Bicca (Bicca, not Becca as Chris likes to call her — Lucie's very adamant about that) who pops up every now and then in her adventures.

We never know what Lucie might incorporate in Marabelle stories. Sometimes it's a tidbit from a book she read (her name comes from Fancy Nancy), a story we told at the dinner table, or a phrase she heard. Though she has some wild adventures at times, most often Marabelle can be found flying somewhere to organize something. Like our Lucie, she quite a busy girl.