Dec 07
29
Favourite Toys
Posted by Stephen29
Tags: affection, children, Joel, rest
Joel has to make sure he has all his “babies” when he goes to bed. These are his stuffed toys. There is a greater volume of stuffed toys in the bed than there is of Joel. First and foremost is Rabbit, his senior baby. Next are Rabbit’s deputies, Happy Feet (a penguin, of course) and Puppy. These three form the core group without which Joel is desperately lonely at bedtime. Then there are about half a dozen lesser babies that enjoy Joel’s favour in varying degrees week by week. This is where I’m a little murky on the details. Finally, there’s all the rest. Toys that he plays with from time to time, but that are always relegated to the foot of the crib when it’s time to sleep.
Joel keeps the core three, plus the others that are flavour of the week, surrounding his head. Usually there’s not much room for Joel, he’s gathered so many toys around him. Often he’ll stuff one or more under his shirt. This is a year-long practice going back to when Debbie was pregnant with his younger brother Micah. Joel was intrigued to know that a little baby brother was inside Mummy’s tummy. Ever since, his toys have been his babies to be kept safe inside his tummy, and to be “born” by pulling them out from under his shirt.
One of his stuffed toys is a shepherd with a whole bunch of sheep, knitted for him by his Grandma. He likes playing with the shepherd, but he loves all the little sheep. Tonight I picked him out of bed for his scheduled midnight pee. First I pulled Rabbit out from under his shirt. Then I pulled out a sheep. Then another. And another. It seemed like there were a dozen sheep stuffed up there. I felt like I was witnessing a dog whelping puppies. It can’t be comfortable, sleeping with all those knobbly little sheep feet and heads poking into him. But he likes it that way.
