Puppy Love

No, no, no it's not what you're thinking. We haven't gotten a puppy [yet!]. 

I want to take a moment to introduce someone who has quickly become a staple in all family events around here. 

This is Puppy. 

He is David's "lovey", his imaginary friend, most prized possession, take everywhere with him toy. I'm not sure if they're related, but interestingly David's attachment to Puppy really started growing strong right around the time of Bogie's passing. He named him, he takes care of him, he LOVES his Puppy. You will start to see Puppy making lots of appearances here on the blog because David wants to include him in everything we do. When we go outside to play, Puppy wants to come too. When we get in the car, Puppy wants to go for a ride too. When it's meal time, Puppy wants to sit with David. When it's bedtime, Puppy is the one David wants to snuggle with [after Mama leaves]. Puppy has likes and dislikes [strangely similar to David's] that David tells us about frequently. David even helps Puppy communicate by giving a little bark every now and then.

 When I was pregnant with David and decorating the nursery, I knew I wanted a basket full of stuffed animals for my baby to play with. I remembered these two stuffed dogs [which were being stored at my parents' house] and placed them in the basket. David found Puppy one day and his fondness for him grew over time. 

Puppy was originally mine. I purchased him, along with a stuffed black lab, while I was in Arizona playing at the National Collegiate Tennis Championship Tournament in 2001. The yellow, of course, was because of my Bogie and the black one, I gave to Ryan because he had his black lab, Maggie, at the time. 

Puppy used to have a brown nose, but since Bogie was still a bit of a puppy himself when I first bought the stuffed animal, he chewed it off. I sewed up the hole where the nose once was and kept both the yellow and black stuffed animals for 9 years until David was born. I had no idea, at the time of my purchase, what that cute, little yellow puppy dog would mean to my son one day. 

Ryan had a stuffed teddy bear named Uh growing up that he shared the same type of relationship with, so he understands David's love for Puppy better than I do. I never had one toy that HAD to go with me wherever I went, but I'm learning about it through David. I love to play along when David's telling me all about Puppy's thoughts and feelings. I did find out one interesting fact about Puppy yesterday:

We played outside yesterday morning and Rachael and I were pretending to be dragons while David chased us down. After his nap, David wanted to play it again. Since Rachael was still asleep I had to stay close to her monitor. I wasn't able to run around the front yard but I could sit on the front porch and watch him. So, I suggested that Puppy could be a dragon until Rachael woke up. David looked at my very seriously and stated, "Mama. Puppy's not even real."

 

Welcome to the family, Puppy.