When I was a kid my mother once made me a bunny costume for Halloween (which I mentioned in an earlier post), and I used to wear it a lot and pretend I was a bunny rabbit. My parents used to try to discourage me from wearing it outside and hopping around on our lawn. I guess it was my "comfort object", like a blankie. But by the time I was a teenager I was deeply embarrassed by it and would cringe really hard whenever my mom would bring up the subject.
Kids pretend to be different things all the time. When they're NT, adults usually think it's good, they're using their imagination, this should be encouraged. Or that it's just a phase and they'll eventually lose interest. But when they're ND, adults are like, this is an obsession, it's bad, it's should be discouraged, they might have even have species dysphoria and they'll grow up into one of those freaks and no no no I want my kid to be a nice normal person. Gooo figure.