difficult child 2 is totally attached to his monkey puppet. He talks to it as though it were real. When he is outside in the yard, he puts the puppet on the window sill of his bedroom and waves to it. I could go on and on and on about this.
We've tried to replace the puppet with more age appropriate things, but always end up failing. Unfortunately difficult child 2's life revolves around this puppet. It is so sad.
I think you might be on to something - I've often wondered too if the unusual attachment he has to this puppet is an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) type of issue. And, I believe that difficult child 2 does replace human relationships with his puppet - Human relationships are confusing to him in ways his puppet never will be. SFR
P.S. If you think you "know" me from what I've written, you do. I had to change my screen name for privacy reasons.