I don’t know that I spelled it correctly.

I’m sure if I ask Bridget how to spell it, she might say something along the lines of “H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Micky Mouse,” which is how she claims just about everything is spelled.

How Fuf-uff is spelled, though, is not really so much the topic of this post. Who and what Fuf-uff is and represents is the topic I am trying to realize.

Fuf-uff is Bridget’s imaginary friend.

We’re not altogether certain what kind of a person or thing Fuf-uff is, as Fuf-uff has been described as both a stuffed animal and a person just like Bridget. She has responded at times that Fuf-uff is a boy, and other times that Fuf-uff is a girl. We do know, however, that Fuf-uff is about 6 inches shorter than Bridget as Bridget looks down slightly to address Fuf-uff. This also may mean that Fuf-uff was sitting on the floor, though.

We first heard of Fuf-uff about two weeks ago as Bridget would mention on her way up to her room that she was going to go play with Fuf-uff. Each time, she would be playing with a different toy. It hadn’t dawned on us at that point that Fuf-uff wasn’t a toy at all. This went on for a number of days.

One night, Tina and I had put Bridget down for the night and closed her door (closing her door is a form of punishment for doing something wrong or just generally manifesting two-year old behavior; she likes her door open). After about 5 minutes or so, Bridget started screaming. I rushed into her bedroom to a shaking and sobbing child. When I asked her what was wrong, she replied that Fuf-uff was scaring her. Suddenly, I began to regret all of the sci-fi movies I had seen previously that illustrated a young child that is terrorized by some creature while their parents disregard and ignore the whole thing. I started to get scared, too. (See ST:TNG:122 – “Imaginary Friend” (Stardate: 45832.1))

The next day, Bridget was playing inside and Tina asked Bridget about Fuf-uff. Bridget replied that Fuf-uff was out on the sidewalk in front of the house taking a nap. Later that day, Bridget was happily playing in her room with Fuf-uff. Fuf-uff regularly visits the Bridget’s Kitchen restaurant and plays with Bridget and her toys.

An article at toddlerstoday.com says, “Typically, a child will create a companion for himself starting at age 2, but children as young as 18 months will begin to pretend, using a block as a cookie or miming drinking from a cup (Kelly, Wendy. Living Next Door to Batman).” We had noticed the earlier signs of Bridget letting the 24″ Santa decoration drink from her sippy cup during Christmas of last year (Bridget was 13 months old). We also have a three-foot-tall “time-out” boy doll that regularly gets drug around the house. I’m sure we have done other things to encourage a make-believe world, such as giving her a play kitchen and constantly teaching her how to “pretend” to eat the food. The mysticism of Santa Clause or perhaps even the picture Bridget has on her dresser of Del Parson’s “Christ in Red Robe” might be encouraging her to pretend to physically interact with somebody that she hasn’t physically met.

Whatever the reason, we were shocked as our little Bridget welcomed Fuf-uff into our household.