The Tomato

Jonathan has a new friend, "the Tomato."

He wakes up, climbs into our bed, and tells us about their escapades.

"I was outside and the Tomato was so sad, because he wanted to play in the water with me, but he couldn't and he was sad and SCARY. And then I said, 'Aww, Tomato don't be sad. I'll make you a snow cone!' So he wasn't sad any more and the snow cone was blue. And he wasn't scary. And we went to the store to see the toys. And we saw the BIG. RED. FIRETRUCKS! And we said, 'Can we pay for it?' But Dap said, "No." So we didn't get it. Then the Tomato found a train and Dap said, 'Yes!' So he got us the train. It was pretty cool."

The Tomato comes up other times, too.

Me: "Jonathan, come eat breakfast."

Jon: "Nope. The Tomato and I already ate breakfast."

Me: "You did?"

Jon: "YES!"

Me: "What did you eat?"

Jon: "I don't know. Well... we ate some cereal. And some toast. And something else. And the Tomato said, 'No! You please don't eat me, please?' And I just took a little bite. We don't bite our friends, Mommy? Then we went to see the firetruck."

Me: "Oh. Did the firetruck eat breakfast, too?"

Jon: (incredulously) "No. It's a firetruck."

Sometimes he plays nice.

"The tomato says, 'Can I play with your bulldozer?' Yes. You can. We can take turns. My socks are wet!"

Sometimes he doesn't.

"NO! TOMATO! You please stop doing that!!!"

But they always make up.

"The tomato doesn't want me to put on my diaper. So I won't. Okay.”

Because, you know, some kids have imaginary friends, others have imaginary pets, but not Jon.

Jon has an imaginary vegetable.