A Changing of the Fuzzy Guard

A few weeks ago someone blew a whistle and I missed it. They must have, because without warning both the kids dumped their current cuddly stuffed animal and moved on.

Jillian was never very attached to her stuffed elephant.  He had never reached the level of naming.  But still it was the animal in the crib and therefore the default critter.  She fell in love with a stuffed, light-up, music playing seahorse on her recent trip to the northwest.  Hernando, as he is now affectionately known, was a gift from my brother Corey. Hernando plays a medley of tunes for about 5 minutes when you squeeze his tummy. We now measure things in Hernandos. As in: Jillian fell asleep in 2 Hernandos.  He is officially called the “Soothe and Glow Seahorse” and the photo is from Amazon’s site.

Wesley on the other hand was extremely attached to Rudy.  He took that stuffed bear everywhere and slept with him every night.  Then one day, sort of out of the blue, he picked up this stuffed penguin (from the movie Happy Feet) and named him Baby Penguin.  Rudy is now as unimportant as any of the other toys.  Wesley is very sweet with his penguin.  He cuddles it, tucks it in for naps, bushes its teeth, and has made it a major focus of most of his activities.  Today Baby Penguin, Wesley and I played Memory with BP flipping the cards with his wings.

I have to admit I don’t like that little penguin.  There are a couple of reasons.  First, and it may seem silly, but I feel badly for poor Rudy.  He was the first toy Wesley really clung too.  The day I gave him the name Rudy, I hadn’t told anyone.  Then I asked Wesley to “go get Rudy” and he walked right over and picked him up.  And now I feel like he has just been tossed aside.  I still tuck him into Wesley’s bed at night, but Wesley doesn’t really care and doesn’t cuddle him.  Second, he is a direct movie tie-in.  A toy that would have no life if it weren’t for some mediocre film.  I hate this kind of stuff.  Those lousy toys, carelessly made because they will sell just because of the brand.  BP isn’t that bad, he is soft and fairly cuddly, but still it bugs me.

The whole fairness thing probably seems kind of weird, but let me give you a bit of background about me.  As a kid I had three stuffed animals: Ted, the bear; Monk the monkey; and Rusty the little boy doll.  I loved those guys and still have them tucked safely away.  As a little kid I had to arrange them so that each night they would rotate through which one was closest to me in the bed.  So that one wouldn’t get to sleep closest to me more than one night.  Even when I wanted to cuddle, say Ted, I would force myself to cuddle with whichever one was up next.  This probably says a lot about my sense of fairness, equality and justice.  And maybe a little bit about my world view when I was as a little kid.  The primo spot in the bed?  Next to me of course.

For the time being at least, I’ll continue to tuck Rudy in and give him a little hug and kiss, just so he doesn’t feel too bad.  Who knows, maybe Wesley will come around.

 

Tags: Baby Penguin, Rudy, Wesley