Role play

Evelyn has a very active imagination. Often times I'd see her with a far away look in her eyes, walking around dreamily talking to make believe characters. Here's an example. We were at an amusement park this past weekend. We watched as she went on a kiddie Merry-Go-Round by herself. Her father called at her and told her to wave at her sister. I looked at her and told him not to bother. We, on this earth, in this world, were invisible to her who was off in a fairy tale or another. And so it was, she paid us no mind. When the ride was over, I went in to help her unbuckle her seat belt. She slid off the horse, and instead of heading to the exit with me, she paused to "feed the horses apples" first in thanks for their help. Not until the horses were fed did she snap back into this world and raced me off to the next ride.
If I don't have activities planned for her, Evelyn can spend her day spinning stories, pretending to be different people, and interacting with imaginary characters. And of course, I'm often appointed different roles to play. "Your Maleficent and I'm Aurora," was one of the sentences I dread to hear. For it means I would be hunting and capturing her, and she would be captured and then escaped over and over and over again until the cow comes home. These days, though, it's "我是祺祺, 妳是姊姊 (I am Chi-Chi, you are Sister)," that makes me cringe.
It all stemmed from the Chinese children's monthly magazine and DVD. The magazine and its accompanying DVD teach children math and language skills as well as manners and social behaviors, such as ask before taking someone's toy. I wanted it mainly for the girls' Chinese exposure than its content. The main characters are a tiger named 巧虎 (Chow-Hu) and his good friend bunny 祺祺 (Chi-Chi). They learn and navigate through toddler hood with the help of an older girl (Sister) and an older boy (Brother). We've subscribed to it for about a year, and thankfully, it's only this past week that Evelyn began to impersonate the figures in the magazines. While I love it that she strives to speak only in Chinese when she's in Chi-Chi mode, being the sister in this game chafes me in two ways:
1. I don't like to be called a sister by her. I don't know why. I'm her mother, and I want to be called as such. Hearing her call me a sister makes me feel like there's a stick in my shoes, poking at my toes, except, at home, I'm not wearing shoes.
2. Pretending to be a character from the DVD means I have to talk like her. That is, I have to talk in a joyous, upbeat tone with many pauses in the sentence, and end it with a slightly upward tone. Oh, I also have to always be cheerful and have a smile on my face. Who talks like that in real life? Two sentences uttered and I feel so fake, I should be walking with stiff knees and robot hands, like an animated mannequin.
HOWEVER, and this is a big however, when I speak as Sister, Evelyn, no, I mean Chi-Chi, listens and obeys. She follows instructions with a willing and happy "Yeah!"
"Please pick up your toy, Evelyn," gets no response, but "Chi-Chi, please (slight pause) pick up your toy (pause), or you won't be able to find it next time!" and she's swooping down on the mess and cleaning it up in no time.
For this reason alone, I will gladly swallow any dislike of the role playing, and assume Sister whenever called upon. Too bad it doesn't work on the dinner table...