Wednesday – Beware of Bears
Aug. 11th, 2010 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
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"Here mommy, you take Snuffles." Snuffles is a pink Gund® teddy bear that I have owned since I was 10 (the pink ones were only made in 1980). Teddy bears are benign looking in general, and Snuffles bears are more benign looking and harmless than most species of teddy bear. My particular Snuffles, being a limited edition, would be a collectors' item except for the fact that when I was in my mid-twenties my puppy chewed his nose off and I had to sew him a new one made out of black yarn so he didn’t look so pathetic. When my son found my collection of old stuffed animals I had saved he commandeered a lot of them, but rejected Snuffles due to his pink fur (this makes him strictly a teddy bear for girls). He likes to insist that I sleep with Snuffles, since it is a bear for girls and I am the only girl in our household.
I grabbed Snuffles, held him up to my face and looked him in his black, plastic eyes. “Hi, Snuffles,” I said.
“I’ll take Armadillo,” Sweet Pea said. What can I say about Armadillo except that it is plush a toy Armadillo? Armadillos are not attractive animals, and toy armadillos are only marginally cuter than the real ones.
My husband’s grandmother died when Sweet Pea was 5 months old, and we traveled to Northwestern Louisiana for the funeral. Afterwards we accompanied Jeff’s mother to the nursing home where his grandmother had spent her last days. The room contained a plush menagerie among all the other family photos and old lady necessities. I have since learned that a lot of nursing homes give out plush toys as prizes at bingo games and the like, so this may have been where they came from. My mother-in-law, Doris, begged us to take some of the toys for the baby. The baby had plenty of plush animals, but I picked out a few smaller ones to be polite. I rejected the armadillo because I thought it was ugly and hated it.
"Take this one," Doris said, "It’s nice and soft. I bet he'll like it." I relented. I planned to get rid of it later, when no one was looking.
"Armadillo is my favorite," my son told me, giving the homely toy a hug. He grabbed Snuffles’ nose and pulled it toward Armadillo. "Say something to Armadillo," he told Snuffles.
I poked Snuffles nose against Armadillo, who was a round lump on the bed. My son had tucked the toy's tail and nose underneath its body. “Hi, Armadillo. Wanna play?”
"Can’t," Sweet Pea said in his high-pitched character voice, "I’m all rolled up in a ball. Hiding." He looked up and me and said in his regular voice, "Armadillos curl up like this when they’re scared. In a ball, see?"
"Oh," I said. I had Snuffles address Armadillo, "Why are you scared, Armadillo?"
"Scared of BEARS!" Armadillo exclaimed, and fast as a flash my son pulled him away and made him burrow into the covers at the far end of the bed.
Snuffles and I looked at each other, each with amused amazement written across our faces. Of course, Snuffles always has amused amazement written across his face; that’s just the way he’s sewn.
"I’m not scared of you," I whispered to Snuffles. "Look at you: you’re pink!"
Snuffles just smiled.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
.
.
"Here mommy, you take Snuffles." Snuffles is a pink Gund® teddy bear that I have owned since I was 10 (the pink ones were only made in 1980). Teddy bears are benign looking in general, and Snuffles bears are more benign looking and harmless than most species of teddy bear. My particular Snuffles, being a limited edition, would be a collectors' item except for the fact that when I was in my mid-twenties my puppy chewed his nose off and I had to sew him a new one made out of black yarn so he didn’t look so pathetic. When my son found my collection of old stuffed animals I had saved he commandeered a lot of them, but rejected Snuffles due to his pink fur (this makes him strictly a teddy bear for girls). He likes to insist that I sleep with Snuffles, since it is a bear for girls and I am the only girl in our household.
I grabbed Snuffles, held him up to my face and looked him in his black, plastic eyes. “Hi, Snuffles,” I said.
“I’ll take Armadillo,” Sweet Pea said. What can I say about Armadillo except that it is plush a toy Armadillo? Armadillos are not attractive animals, and toy armadillos are only marginally cuter than the real ones.
My husband’s grandmother died when Sweet Pea was 5 months old, and we traveled to Northwestern Louisiana for the funeral. Afterwards we accompanied Jeff’s mother to the nursing home where his grandmother had spent her last days. The room contained a plush menagerie among all the other family photos and old lady necessities. I have since learned that a lot of nursing homes give out plush toys as prizes at bingo games and the like, so this may have been where they came from. My mother-in-law, Doris, begged us to take some of the toys for the baby. The baby had plenty of plush animals, but I picked out a few smaller ones to be polite. I rejected the armadillo because I thought it was ugly and hated it.
"Take this one," Doris said, "It’s nice and soft. I bet he'll like it." I relented. I planned to get rid of it later, when no one was looking.
"Armadillo is my favorite," my son told me, giving the homely toy a hug. He grabbed Snuffles’ nose and pulled it toward Armadillo. "Say something to Armadillo," he told Snuffles.
I poked Snuffles nose against Armadillo, who was a round lump on the bed. My son had tucked the toy's tail and nose underneath its body. “Hi, Armadillo. Wanna play?”
"Can’t," Sweet Pea said in his high-pitched character voice, "I’m all rolled up in a ball. Hiding." He looked up and me and said in his regular voice, "Armadillos curl up like this when they’re scared. In a ball, see?"
"Oh," I said. I had Snuffles address Armadillo, "Why are you scared, Armadillo?"
"Scared of BEARS!" Armadillo exclaimed, and fast as a flash my son pulled him away and made him burrow into the covers at the far end of the bed.
Snuffles and I looked at each other, each with amused amazement written across our faces. Of course, Snuffles always has amused amazement written across his face; that’s just the way he’s sewn.
"I’m not scared of you," I whispered to Snuffles. "Look at you: you’re pink!"
Snuffles just smiled.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 04:03 pm (UTC)All three of my kids had those gund bears. Eddie absolutely loved his white bear. His name was Oso (bear in Spanish). He's still upstairs. Tim had a brown one named Nino. He liked, it, but not like Eddie loved Oso. Maggie also had a white one with a long scarf. Her name was Isadora Duncan. Maggie was wildly indifferent to her.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-15 03:41 pm (UTC)When I was 10, the Gund toys were collected by tween and teen girls much too old to play with them; we decorated our rooms with them instead (remember "Gotta getta Gund?"). When my son found my old collection of these things, it became his when he asked, "Why do you need them? Do you play with them?"
no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-15 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-15 03:43 pm (UTC)