Mingims

Ana Luisa has a crazy imagination that has been making us laugh pretty much constantly these days.

For example, a couple weeks ago, the kids made pretzels with Abuela. Ana Luisa started out by forming her dough into a family of balloons. The plot line began to unfold, and soon the balloon family was introduced to their nemesis, "El Gran Pizza Malo" (The Big Bad Pizza). The baby balloon suffered several attacks by this evil villain and then eventually the whole cast of characters ended up being baked in the oven and eaten. A fairytale ending, indeed.

In the last week or so, Ana Luisa has also developed an imaginary friend. We have slowly been finding out more and more about her: Her name is Mingims, and she is four and a half years old. She speaks English and Spanish, and is from Yoyoming. Her brothers and sisters are Pink, Punk, Peach and Bunk. Ana Luisa put earrings in Mingims ears. Once they went to the mall together, and Mingims ran off and got lost, but Ana Luisa called her name loudly and Mingims found her again. Mingims also has five mothers and five fathers. When I asked why, Ana Luisa gave me an elaborate answer involving a spider and its web, which I did not understand at all. When I asked how she met Mingims, she replied, "In three hours."

You can't make this stuff up...unless you're almost three years old. We look forward to getting to know Mingims better. And getting material to write award-winning children's literature, such as "The Balloon Family and the Big Bad Pizza."