Who Is Sally Watty?

So several months ago, Abby, who was then 3 1/2, started talking about her friend Sally Watty. Since she couldn't say her "r" sound very well, we weren't sure if it was Watty or Ratty, but we were pretty sure it was Watty. Well, it's not that unusual for little people to have imaginary friends, but Abby has taken Sally Watty to a whole new level! She doesn't really play with Sally Watty, but brings her up at random, and mostly to tell us of another horrible thing that has happened in Sally Watty's life. For example:

• From the very beginning, Sally's mother was in the hospital, very ill with a mysterious disease, thus, Sally Watty had to live with her grandparents.
• It turned out that her mom had blood in her head, very grave indeed, so it took months for Sally Watty's mom to get out of the hospital, but her dad stayed with her, so it was okay.
• Sally Watty has 4 houses, 5 brothers, and 6 sisters, thus needing the 4 houses! But, you won't belive what happened last week: one of her houses got on fire. "There was this mean man that started a fire in her house." Thank goodness she has 3 other houses.
• On vacation this summer, Abby had fallen asleep, and as soon as she woke up, very groggily she said, "Sally Watty's mom is okay."-like she had been dreaming of her.

Often when we're driving around and Abby sees a small girl about her age, she'll go, "Mom, mom! That was Sally Watty!" We drove past one of her houses last week: it's on Davis Rd here in Lodi, it's one of those HUGE houses on a vineyard, of course.

We're learning that perhaps Sally Watty is Abby's alter-ego. She can make up these dramatic things that happen to her and play out this bizarre scenario and everyone is captivated by it. She totally knows it's a fun game and doesn't get upset when we talk about it or tease her, it's all part of the game.

Oh, and there is a Sally Batty too. But he's a boy. And he's mean. "Soooo mean, that I don't even care that I can't talk to him at school."