Fluffy Puppy

I recently read an article called "Loved Ones" (that my nanny brought home from one of Sonia's organized playgroups). It was all about how children this age often develop attachments to some sort of security object (blanket, stuffed animal, etc.) to help them cope with separation anxiety. As if on cue, in the last week or so Sonia has become very attached to a particular stuffed dog she has. The article mentioned that children will choose an object from the existing toys / things in their life, and sure enough Sonia somehow decided that of all the toys, and indeed all of the stuffed animals, there was something special about the one that we are now calling "Fluffy Puppy." Honestly, if I had known it ("he", I guess) would become so prevalent in our lives, I would have named him something far more clever.

Unfortunately Fluffy Puppy would not have been my first choice to be her prized possession. For one, he has typical plastic, sewn-on eyes which pretty much scream "choking hazard". Of course, they are attached pretty securely and if I ever saw Sonia chewing on the eyes I would, a) be very disturbed by the visual, and b) take Fluffy Puppy away. The bigger problems are that FP is mostly white in color (except for the areas where he has already gotten dirty after being dropped on the ground repeatedly) and is one of a kind (he was a gift). My master plan had been to buy two of something (animal, blanket, whatever) so we could have a back-up as the article suggested. But, Sonia beat me to the punch by becoming attached to FP, so I guess now we'll just have to hope she doesn't lose FP like she has lost about a dozen pacifiers, one "Snack Trap", and countless small toys.

I'm sure after all of this build-up, our loyal readers are wanting to see FP for themselves. Here are a couple of pictures of him, plus a video taken very early this morning (5-something) that shows the kind of love and affection he is receiving (and also that Sonia can be unbelievably happy when she wakes up, despite the fact that it is too early for humans to reasonably function). I must admit, there is something undeniably cute about watching a 10-month old hug a stuffed animal. Here's hoping we can manage not to lose him.