Monster Penguin

The BabyGirl owns an adorable pink piggy bank, which we had not yet unpacked since moving. It wasn't safe for it to emerge from its box until we had a secure, out-of-reach location for it. Finally, we bought some shelves for the BabyGirl's room, so we unpacked the adorable piggy bank. The BabyGirl and i both were very surprised to find MORE stuffed animals in the box! You see, the BabyGirl owns a plethora of stuffed animals. So many animals. As many as we already had, i was shocked to discover even more. She was so happy to be reunited with them. It was as if she was seeing old friends after a long absence. She pulled each friend out one by one and exclaimed its name exuberantly.

"Duck!"

"Bear!"

"Pig!"

Then she came to the last animal in the box. This one was of particular interest to me. How could i have forgotten this cute little guy?

This precious creature was the first (and possibly only) sewing craft i made for the BabyGirl. It is the product of Craft Day with my dear friend Laura. You can read about it here to refresh your memory.

As the BabyGirl pulled my handiwork out of the box, i was opening my mouth for an enthusiastic, "Awwww!" Unfortunately, i was unable to express my delight because the BabyGirl interjected first by shouting the animal's name:

"Monster!"

Excuse me? "Monster?" My lovingly crafted penguin is now being called monster? Yes, it's true. Several days later she still calls it Monster.

It doesn't lessen her affection for it, however. This group of stuffed animals she plays with separately from the other bazillion animals she owns. Once when tidying up, i put Duck, Bear, Pig, and Monster in the armchair where all of the other animals live. The next time she was in that room, the BabyGirl took Duck, Bear, Pig, and Monster out of that chair and moved them to a separate location. The other morning she lined them all up and fed them a pretend breakfast with her tea set.

If the penguin has to be relegated to "monster" status, I guess it's some consolation that it still gets invited to the tea party!