I know many of you had your favorite stuffed animals or blankets including an annoying little sister in my house who carried her blanket around until all that was left was a section of the satin hem that used to be pink in color but was last seen as a pinkish brown streak of material that you would never touch if you saw it on a park bench. With nightmares of this discolored material still floating in my brain, I was hoping Brown would not latch onto something like this. I even thought we were well past this point but several months ago, he latched onto a bear that we have successfully (mostly) confined to use only in his naps and bedtime. Somehow, he has gotten into the habit during reading at night of picking hair off of the fur, and stuffing it in his nose. Yes, you read that correctly. No idea where, how or why he acquired this pattern. Aside from being bizarre and quite gross especially after he gets up, it has the effect of hastening the deterioration of this particular collection of fabric. For many months, this fur merely smelled like an old shirt. Then it started smelling slightly of urine which was only mildly offensive and was worth the trade off of a happy sleeping boy. However, during a particularly feverish night, it was a collecting point of vomit not once but twice during the night. Despite our efforts, this smell could not be removed or countered. So we put this non washable bear into the washing machine which it largely survived. However, we can see that its days are numbered. It did take a few trips to the Good Shepherd playground during a few weeks of separation anxiety during which time it picked up more than its share of small, prickly pieces of mulch which we are still trying to remove (it did wonders for the separation anxiety however). A few more washings, and more of the stuffing may begin to come out. We envision the time when the Brown is carrying around a piece of fur with an eye or two attached to it. In light of that, we have been looking for a look alike bear out there, but have had no luck. If you happen to see a bear that looks like the one in the picture, please let us know. We may buy 4 or 5 of them so that we can avoid the fate of that well used blanket of yore.
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