Introducing Loopy

These days Isaac goes by a variety of names, Isaac, Izzy, and Ike among them. But he has a new alias as well: Loopy.

When we were in Montana this summer, our condo's entertainment unit had a video game controller. Although Isaac doesn't play video games, he enjoyed playing with the controller. He pretended it was a dog. He patted it, put it to bed on a pillow, and dragged it around by its cord, which he declared was a leash. "Don't know what puppy name is," he said. We suggested names -- Nintendo, Buttons, and Blackie -- but I don't think he liked any of them.

(We met a young man in the condo's elevator one afternoon, and, noticing that Isaac was carrying the controller, he asked Isaac if he was going to play some video games. Isaac gave him a funny look and told him he was walking the dog.)

When we got back home, Isaac pretended that my belt was a dog, or perhaps that it was a leash with an imaginary dog attached. "Don't know what puppy name is," he said. I suggested the name Belty, but I don't think he liked it. (My names for imaginary animals always end in a Y.) Then he realized he could play with the dog's real leash. He dragged it around for a few days, and no doubt asked us what its name was, but I don't remember answering. But the next thing I knew, he was calling his pretend dog "Loopy" after the loop at the end of the leash. Soon after that, Isaac himself became the dog Loopy.

The debut of this alter ego corresponded with the failure of a guided visualization I tried to use with him. I had tried to get him to settle down in bed by imagining himself as a quiet bunny resting in its cozy nest. He listened to me talk about the quiet bunny for a few nights, but then announced, "No nest. Not a bunny." He went on to inform me that he was a puppy named Loopy, and that he would instead sleep in his "cozy dog bed." (Well, hell, as long as he sleeps in some kind of bed!)

I know a woman who tried to discourage her son from pretending to be a dog -- she found it very upsetting, especially when he wanted to wear a collar -- but I think it's pretty cute. At this point Isaac pretends to be a dog frequently, but briefly -- he calls himself Loopy 20 times a day, but he never stays in character for more than 30 seconds or so. Sometimes immediately after after he announces he's Loopy, he'll say, "I really Isaac."

It seems like a good game, so I'm happy to go along with it. Well, I'll call him Loopy, I'll let him call me Mama Puppy, and I'll pat him if he asks me to, but I draw the line at letting him lick crumbs off the floor. We have a real dog for that.