Silly Old Bear

And in other news...Alton has discovered his first teddy bear! Hasn't ever shown any interest in stuffed animals before even though they were in his bedroom and playroom. We introduced a "lovey" at night--a little flat washcloth of a pooh bear who looks like a flying squirrel--but Alton hasn't become attached to it other than to wave it around and throw it out of the crib when he wakes up in the morning. But a couple of months ago our friend Holly gave him a big stuffed pooh bear (if you scroll way down, he's one of the last pictures in this post) and it has been sitting decoratively on the spare twin bed in Alton's bedroom ever since. On Mother's Day, Andy was getting Alton out of bed in the morning when suddenly something clicked, and his eyes lit up when he saw Pooh Bear sitting there on his bed. He was practically leaning out of Andy's arms; he had to have that bear!
He insisted on carrying it from room to room most of that day, and continued to be so enthralled with Pooh that I nearly considered bringing it on the upcoming trip Alton and I were taking. The only bummer is that P.B. is so large that when Alton has his arms around it, the bear's big 'ol cranium is in Altie's face and he can't even see to walk! I mentioned the problem to Grammy, who proposed a solution: she would hunt for a smaller version of the bear for Grandpa to bring up in his suitcase over his Memorial Day weekend visit. Victory! The diminutive bear was procured and imported to Oregon. Alton, however, feels that two bears for the price of one is the way to fly. He likes to hold either bear by the leg or the paw and sling it backwards over his shoulder to carry it around the room. He gets the smaller bear in a headlock. He hugs the big bear tightly and rests his head on Pooh's fluffy softness. Best of all, the toys have inspired a new word for him to speak: bear! He sounds like a Bostonian saying the word "bar": bah! Today he added a "boo bah!" just to make sure we knew who he was talking about. Pooh Bear, of course.