Ben's friend Tyrone

Ben's new imaginary friend is Tyrone from The Backyardigans. He's always pretending to carry him around, he does things with him... plays all kinds of games, they have foot races, Ben seats him next to him whereever he goes, has picnics with him, etc. I often have to address Ben *and* Tyrone, and a huge benefit is that it's easier to get Ben to do something if I ask him to teach Tyrone how to do X, Y, or Z.

Occassionally there's a little problem, like this morning I accidentally ate poor Tyrone, so I had to quickly spit him back out before poor Ben had a heart attack. Ben later peed on Tyrone in his potty, then plucked him and dried him off with a towel. And sometimes Tyrone gets into trouble, like he might dump over a bowl of snacks or something; when Ben's questioned about it I'm told Tyrone was the culprit.

Overall though Tyrone keeps Ben pretty busy, and this is a good thing. My only dilemma now is do I buy Ben a plush Tyrone for Christmas, or do I continue to have him 'make do' with invisible Tyrone?