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Sleeping Toys

Eleanor had many toys that she slept with, but she never seemed particularly attached to any particular one. Her favorite was "Sprinkles," a soft giraffe, but she never really carried it around everywhere she went.

Amanda slept with one toy, Baa the lamb. We had a backup, who she eventually named "Mr. Maa", Baa's brother or mother, depending. Amanda does take her toys everywhere, which means they get lost for the night fairly frequently. We explain that they have gone on an "adventure" and she sleeps without them for the night. Mr. Maa was lost for a long time once, and she kept asking him. Eventually she found another sheep, about twice as large, a different brand, a different color... "Look who's back from his adventure! It's Mr. Maa! He got bigger!" A few weeks later, she found Mr. Maa, and then she had to explain the third sheep... The third sheep eventually was relegated to the toy box.

Luke got very attached to his froggy blanket. We tried to buy another one, but by the time we realized how attached he was, the toy was not being made any more. He would carry froggy all over the house, use it to wipe up spills, bake it in the bread maker, put it in buckets and hide the buckets, and so on. Needless to say, froggy got lost pretty quickly. We had several replacement frogs, different colors or textures, but after a few days of pushing them away at bedtime, Luke gradually got used to the idea. I was glad that Luke was so flexible.

Really, he loves most stuffed animals. They all look like dogs (including the fur covered copy of the book Little Fur Family). He carries them around, makes them talk to each other, and gives them copious kisses. I was glad of this fact when we were about to go up to Apple Festival last weekend, and I couldn't find either Hopper or Ribbity (the replacement frogs). I gave him a bear from the zoo, and he latched on pretty well.

We had been home about 10 minutes before Luke found the missing frogs (I had looked for them for about half an hour, I still don't know where they were). Just in case you thought Luke was equally happy with all stuffed animals, when I offered both bear and Hopper to him as he was going to sleep, he grabbed the frog and hugged it, and then dropped the bear on the ground. Bye bye bear!

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