A New (Stuffed) Friend

Almost a month ago, L.J.’s class had a teddy bear picnic. Each child was asked to bring a teddy bear from home to join the fun. The night before I retrieved a teddy bear from a bin in the basement, introduced him to L.J. and explained the picnic. L.J. was very excited!

The next morning, running behind as usual, we encountered an unexpected hiccup trying to get out the door. The teddy bear was wearing pajamas (which he came with) and L.J. was insistent that he must wear clothes. So back upstairs I went to dig out a newborn outfit from L.J.’s clothes bins. But wait! Teddy didn’t have a diaper on and this was also a problem. I sent L.J. upstairs to get a newborn diaper out of Baby Sister’s dresser. Finally, with two humans and one stuffed bear fully dressed and ready, we snapped a quick picture by the tree and headed out the door.

(By the way, Teddy is wearing L.J.’s ‘Gift to all the ladies’ newborn Christmas outfit – which fits him perfectly. Meaning, he’s the actual size of a newborn. This fact is not lost on me as I carry him around, knowing in a few weeks I’ll be holding an actual newborn. Can’t wait!)

We thought the bear would be popular for a day or so before being added to the ever-growing pile of animals on his bed that are quite necessary for bedtime but otherwise mostly ignored.

We were wrong. “Teddy” has been quite the constant companion over the past few weeks. He has certainly not replaced Baba’s hallowed status, but we now hear “my blankie and Teddy” instead of just “Baba.” We are curious to see if Teddy becomes a permanent fixture.

Also of very important status are Teddy’s blue pajamas. We’ve had to put our foot down about how many times we are called back upstairs because L.J. has taken them off and can’t get them back on. L.J. has taken to sleeping without a shirt on at night – he gets so hot with Baba wrapped around him – and we now laugh when we check on him before we go to bed because he takes Teddy’s shirt off too. It’s really quite funny to walk in and see both L.J. and Teddy resting side-by-side with just their pajama bottoms on.