Our Favorite Things

Drew, Bear and Doggie Blanket

Drew has gotten into the habit of always needing to take a toy to bed with him.  He won't settle down until he has some random object to sleep with.  There are objects that have been buried in his toy basket  but have now claimed a new place in his heart.  Some of you out there reading this might just recognize a few special items you might have given him and thought he had have forgotten about by now.

Some of his favorite objects he just can't live without:

Bear (aka church buddy) is a teddy bear that is Drew's best friend.  No matter where we are our, what we are doing, it's good to have bear around.  When Drew is in his most hysteric mood and in full emotional break down, he calls out through his tears, "I want my Bear!" (it used to be Daddy or Mommy).

Doggie Blanket is a small handkerchief sized blanket with a small dog head protruding from the corner.  This is something that started as a random find at bed time while looking for a toy to sleep with.  Now in some instances, Doggie Blanket has actually replaced Bear (but certainly not exclusively), as in, "I want my Doggie Blanket!"

There has always been a place in Drew's heart for Buzz.  During Grammy's last visit to Disney World, she slurped down the most sugary, tooth-rotting drink just so she could get this really neat Buzz Lightyear that lights up that came with the drink.  Drew loved the toy until the battery ran out, which of course was no ordinary battery.  Elizabeth visited every Batteries-Plus store in the metropolitan area to find a replacement.  Every day for a week, while Elizabeth hunted, Drew never forgot and asked, "Buzz fixed?"  She did finally find a replacement battery, and Drew is back in love with Light-up Buzz Lightyear.  Elizabeth bought some extra batteries just in case Buzz's light goes out again.

Easter Bunny, Barney and their airplanes

Most recently, Drew discovered a small stuffed velveteen Rabbit in his toy basket.  Ever since this past Easter, every rabbit Drew sees, books, stuffed, or wild, it doesn't matter, is the Easter Bunny.  Now, he doesn't go anywhere without Easter Bunny.  And, occasionally, Bear or Doggie Blanket is replaced in, "I want my Easter Bunny!"

Every now and then, Drew still picks up and loves his large stuffed Barney (the purple dinosaur).  Though come bed time, Barney has to sleep on the floor.  He just takes up too much space in bed.

Doggie (separate from Doggie Blanket) is a stuffed dachshund.  Unfortunately, many other animals and toys get a lot more love at home then Doggie does, but for some unexplained reason, I think Doggie has made more trips to school for Show-and-Tell then any other of Drew's possessions.  I can't explain that one.

Tonight, Drew fell asleep looking at the stars.  A turtle that lights up with stars all over the ceiling.  This week it has become the favorite at bed time.

All this is cute, but of course, Drew's most favorite toy at any moment is the exact toy that Ollie is playing with.  When Ollie was a baby, and mostly unaware of much except "Dougie" (read on for explanation) and his bottle, we got in the habit of allowing Drew to have whatever Ollie was playing with as long as he gave Ollie something in return.  However, now that Ollie is older, and rather attached to whatever he is playing with, he knows a good and a bad trade when he sees it, and not always happy about Drew taking his best toys from him.  We're working on correcting that one.

This isn't all about Drew though, Ollie has a few things he just can't do without too:

Dougie is Ollie's pacifier.  I'm not 100% sure why Ollie calls it Dougie, but in his moment of need he'll call for Dougie until he gets it.  For the longest time, we though he was calling for his Daddy, but no, it turned out he wanted his pacifier all along.  He's not as addicted as Drew was at his age, he can go long stretches of time without it, but when he needs it, he lets us know.

Ollie and Gerald

Gerald is an Elephant and Ollie's favorite stuffed animal.  Gerald got his name from one of our favorite series of Kids books featuring best friends, Gerald and Piggy.  He really loves all his stuffed animals and will give them big hugs when he sees them.  There is also ER, a homemade teddy bear that a hospital volunteer gave Ollie when he went to the ER with pneumonia; a giraffe, a larger teddy bear, and car teddy (who lives in Mike's car, and Ollie holds on to every day driving to school), and a singing Barney that Drew recently gave Ollie because he fell in love with his larger stuffed Barney and thought Ollie might like one too.

Ollie's latest passion has been airplanes.  We have a few hot wheel sized airplanes that both Ollie and Drew love to play with.  And, they both make some great airplane sound effects.  But, Ollie just puts that extra heart into his sound effects.  You would be amazed at the sounds this little guy makes when swinging an airplane back and forth.  Its like your standing in the middle of Hartsfield-Jackson's main runway.

Ollie watching Clifford.

Naturally every kid loves TV.  But, some just have that natural couch-potato instinct.  Ollie will point and point at the TV until it gets turned on.  He has his favorite shows, but it really doesn't matter what's playing, he just wants to watch.  He will stand right in front of the TV with his nose just inches from the screen transfixed to it.

Ollie and Murphy

Lastly, Ollie is in love with our kitty, Murphy.  Really, both the kids are.  But, Ollie for some reason has a special way of wanting to get Murphy's attention.  He will squat down where his mouth is close to Murphy's and sort of do a sputtering with his lips.  It's almost as if he's trying to blow a kiss to Murphy.  Murphy finds this rather annoying and quickly disappears.  I am grateful that I do not have pets who lash out at my children.  For whatever reason, Murphy takes a minute to gather his wits and then will return a little bit later only to be confronted with the same nerve-ending behavior.  I am sure he will be thrilled when Ollie is a bit more mature.

We have a lot of other "junk" around the house.  But how can we throw or give away any of it when you just know that that one meaningless unloved thing today just might be your kid's next best friend tomorrow.