Julia likes to play with her stuffed animals and toys like puppets. She has her toys pretend to carry on a conversation with her through us. Usually she feeds us the lines she wants her toy to say to her. Basically, she has a conversation with herself and whatever toy we are "animating".
At lunch she met a new friend, Mr Apple. Mr Apple was actually a large apple slice that hailed from the region known as my lunch plate. We played for a few minutes at the table until I looked at the clock and realized that it was time for her nap. She seemed tired anyway, so I ate her friend. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have pretended to eat her friend so violently. Of course, the tiredness didn't help the situation, and when she had to watch her friend being eaten alive she broke into tears. She was heartbroken...and is probably now scarred for life.
I'm still not sure if she really "felt" for her friend or if she was just tired and crying because I cut her playtime short. I guess we'll never know. I talked her through the grieving process and after a minute or two, she seemed to bounce back. One thing is for sure: next time I eat her friend, I'll try to be more discrete about it.