My son, Eli, after over two years, decides that TODAY he is going to attach himself to a stuffed animal. Or in his case, a stuffed Mr. Met. As the picture above clearly shows, at 6 months of age, he LOVED Mr. Met. For about 3 minutes. Long enough to take some cute pictures. But since then, he has shown no affinity for blankies, bears, woobies, or lovies. Then came this morning.
It was "Bring Your Favorite Stuffed Animal to School" day, and not wanting him to be left out, I coaxed him into choosing one to bring to school - after digging out the box of teddy bears from his closet, where they have been for over a year since we moved. He rejected the Jerry Bear I offered. Dismissed the manatee I held up. Shook his head at the fluffy lamb. But agreed to take Mr. Met.
Eight hours later, he was still clinging to him. They played together, Napped together. Went to the potty together. I took him shopping with me after work, and Mr. Met came with us. And until ten minutes ago, he was in the crib with him.
I'm not sure if this makes me a bad dad or not, but I just now snuck in and quietly removed Mr. Met from beside my sleeping son and stuffed him back in the closet. This pains me as a Met fan, but I really don't want my kid lugging around a stuffed animal. Or mascot. I figure if he's made it this far, why mess with success? But I leave it up to you. Did I do the right thing?
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CODA:Most of you will be happy to know that at 6:15 this morning, when I went upstairs to wake Eli for school, he popped right up and immedietely started looking around his crib. He lifted his pillow. He checked under his blanket. "Where's Met?" he asked. I instantly caved and said, "Maybe he went back in the closet." I made a show of being surprised that he was in there and handed him over to my happy boy. What the hell, I figured. Chances are this will be the only pleasure he ever gets from the Mets, so might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
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| Reunited and it feels so good! |
Although I am not a parent, I was a child. I always had a teddy and a blankie that I was dragging around. I stopped when I wanted to. The animals were charecters in plays I made up & helped me with imagination. As far as whether you did wrong, I can not say. That is up to you & your wife how you raise Eli. And I think you are doing pretty awesome.
ReplyDelete"This pains me as a Met fan." LOL!!!!
ReplyDeleteSuch darling pictures!
Given that many kids of religious parents grow up to become atheists and many kids of Democratic parents grow up to become Republicans, I would say the odds are strongly in favor of your kid growing up to be a Yankees fan. My condolences in advance.
ReplyDeleteKids grow out of their toys in their own time. Love the cute pictures!
ReplyDeleteJ.C.
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