Beary Different

Thank you for your condolences since our loss of the one and only, Mr. Bear. Many of you who Keep Up are wondering about the Bear seen hanging out with Zoe lately.

Since Mr. Bear's bearnapping at the Oakland airport last November, Zoe has been coping with the loss very well. The empty hole in our hearts left by Mr. Bear's absence has been filled with a circulating array of temporary loveys. First, Mr. Bear's brothers- Monsieur and Senor have stepped in to fill the immediate void in Zoe's bed.
They were purchased years ago soon after Zoe's attachment with Mr. Bear, when a stranger in line for coffee told me the horror story of having a family friend break into their house to FedEx her daughter's lovey across the country while they were on vacation, after accidentally leaving it behind. The child cried constantly, and would not sleep until reunited with it.
"Go out and buy two more just like it while you can", she pushed.
A book suggested rotating the loveys before the child becomes attached to not only the beast itself, but the increasingly "gamey funk" related with it.
Well, Zoe was sly to any attempt at a switch and looked at the fresh creature as if we might have handed her a kleenex.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
So the two stand-ins sat in a closet, waiting in the wings until they were called upon.

We had just unlocked the house after the airport when Nico ran to the closet, grabbed the bears and stuffed them into Zoe's tearful arms.
"Look!", he exclaimed, "It's Senor and Monsieur Bear! Mr. Bear's brothers!"
And they soaked up her tears into their fluffy fur and outstretched arms.
They sat up straight instead of drooping over like a half-stuffed beanbag. Their eyes were black and shiny, not scratched and dull. Their fur was a light camel color- not a dingy brown. And they were soft and fluffy, not matted and worn.
And Zoe took them around. Usually both, or maybe one or the other. She let Julian hold one of them sometimes and didn't wig out about it. No one could really tell who was Senor and who was Monsieur, as one had a tag but Zoe would just throw out a name when asked who was who. We didn't think she had a preference.

Then Zoe's teacher gave her a little Beanie Penguin for Christmas. He came along with us on our holiday trip to Vancouver, stuffed into her jacket pocket. When the Bear Twins were accidentally left behind at Security with the backpack full of plane toys, she had to go without for the duration of the trip. Thus, she became really attached to penguin. He went everywhere- on the plane, on the ferry boat, in the car, to bed, to the potty, in the snow, for toboggan rides. When he came home, he was black and grey, not black and white.

Then one afternoon, Zoe discovered an old friend in her closet. Ladybug was a little nightlight of sorts- plushy underneath with a hard shell that has tiny stars cut into it. When you flip the switch underneath, light shines through the shell and projects blue, green or red stars on the ceiling. Zoe moved Ladybug to the #1 position and decided that it must accompany her everywhere. After a couple of weeks of this, Ladybug- who was meant to live on a dresser- has had some accidents. I've had to pull out my gluegun on 3 occasions. She's half glue at this point. A Mommy's to-do list is never dull.

All the while, the bears remain. They go on rides in the car. There's always one in bed, or on the couch. Julian likes to visit with them too, but isn't really attached to any one object, the way that Zoe was to Mr. Bear.
The other night, we were tucking the kids into bed, and Zoe had her bears. Julian requested, "Beh!"
And pointed to the bears.
Daddy asked Zoe if Julian could borrow one of the bears. Zoe turned them upside down, and carefully handed one to Daddy.
"He can have this one".
We looked at each other. We thought she didn't have a favorite between the two, but clearly she had made a distinction.
We looked at the one not given over to her little brother.
The bears look exactly the same- the same soft, fresh camel colored fur and shining eyes. But the one remaining in Zoe's arms? The fur on it's tail is worn, and a little dingy brown in color. And it has a faint gamey odor...