We are overrun with stuffed animals. We have big ones, beanie babies, princesses and puppets. We have fuzzy ones and sparkly ones. We have Disney characters, Build-a-Bear friends and amusement park generic ponies. Little Miss loves stuffed animals, and I am always compelled to buy them for her. Always. I mean, the kid has at least five stuffed Mickeys.
And then comes Mr. Man. He could not care less about stuffed animals. The scented cat I bought for him when he was still in my belly? Doesn’t notice it at all. The denim OshKosh bear from Pops, he ignores it. How about the adorable Horton from my baby sprinkle? Nope. Not interested.
Well the other day we took a trip to Barnes and Noble to read some books and play with the trains. Little did I know that the train table is put away during the holidays to allow for more people and less chance of injury. After reading a bunch of Disney books, Little Miss resorted to playing with all the stuffed animals (I know what your thinking, but I have worked retail and I put them all back in the exact places where they belonged). Poor Mr. Man was left in his stroller looking sleepy and bored.
To keep him from having a meltdown, I handed him random things while Little Miss lined up ugly Ty creatures. He briefly looked at a few Doc Mcstuffins books but then they were pitched overboard. It was pretty much the same with every stuffed animal I handed him, until I reached the My Blue Nose Friends bunny. The panda had been thrown to the floor and the giraffe had been ignored, but the bunny made him laugh. He pulled its ears and squeezed its nose. Being inherently compulsive about purchasing everything my kids show an interest in, I immediately started trying to figure out a way to buy it without the kids seeing so it could end up under the tree from Santa.
That isn’t what happened. You know why? Mr. Man threw up on it. After that, it was like he knew he had marked it as his own and started chewing on its nose. When it was time to leave, I reached across the counter and scanned the drool-covered thing into the register myself to save the poor B&N employee. Well $23 bunny, you were coming home with us.
The strange thing about it though is that this particular bunny is the one stuffed animal that Mr. Man actually likes. My mom said he bonded with it. He gives it his paci and his favorite toy (a Melissa and Doug banana) and holds its ears while we drive in the car. It is so sweet I want to cry. And the thing is adorable. A perfect buddy for Mr. Man.
And then comes Mr. Man. He could not care less about stuffed animals. The scented cat I bought for him when he was still in my belly? Doesn’t notice it at all. The denim OshKosh bear from Pops, he ignores it. How about the adorable Horton from my baby sprinkle? Nope. Not interested.
Well the other day we took a trip to Barnes and Noble to read some books and play with the trains. Little did I know that the train table is put away during the holidays to allow for more people and less chance of injury. After reading a bunch of Disney books, Little Miss resorted to playing with all the stuffed animals (I know what your thinking, but I have worked retail and I put them all back in the exact places where they belonged). Poor Mr. Man was left in his stroller looking sleepy and bored.
To keep him from having a meltdown, I handed him random things while Little Miss lined up ugly Ty creatures. He briefly looked at a few Doc Mcstuffins books but then they were pitched overboard. It was pretty much the same with every stuffed animal I handed him, until I reached the My Blue Nose Friends bunny. The panda had been thrown to the floor and the giraffe had been ignored, but the bunny made him laugh. He pulled its ears and squeezed its nose. Being inherently compulsive about purchasing everything my kids show an interest in, I immediately started trying to figure out a way to buy it without the kids seeing so it could end up under the tree from Santa.
That isn’t what happened. You know why? Mr. Man threw up on it. After that, it was like he knew he had marked it as his own and started chewing on its nose. When it was time to leave, I reached across the counter and scanned the drool-covered thing into the register myself to save the poor B&N employee. Well $23 bunny, you were coming home with us.
The strange thing about it though is that this particular bunny is the one stuffed animal that Mr. Man actually likes. My mom said he bonded with it. He gives it his paci and his favorite toy (a Melissa and Doug banana) and holds its ears while we drive in the car. It is so sweet I want to cry. And the thing is adorable. A perfect buddy for Mr. Man.