Meet Ruffy

Yesterday, Mom and I took Aidan to Build-a-Bear for the first time. It was Mom's suggestion, as she had already taken my sister and the twins the previous weekend to find an Easter basket buddy. I will go ahead and admit that I had previously purchased a new bunny for Aidan's Easter basket in an attempt to eliminate one of these friends:

These would be Baby Bunny, Mommy Bear, and Daddy Bunny. Aidan was never meant to have all 3. Baby Bunny was actually a back-up in case we ever lost Daddy Bunny due to a previous experience of losing a bunny at NorthPark Mall that is no longer made. In order to keep them looking about the same, every 2 weeks or so, I would switch out the bunnies and wash the one that had been in use. However, Aidan knew the difference. As you can tell from the picture, Baby Bunny has a smaller head. Though they are the same bunny, they are not the same in size.

Aidan sleeps with all 3 of these animals. Baby Bunny is his favorite. I have only recently been able to convince him not to carry him absolutely everywhere we go. However, he's getting a bit gross looking, and no matter how many times I wash him, his looks don't get better. Hence, the reason for hoping to replace him.

But I really liked the idea of Build-a-Bear for an Easter basket buddy, so we went and allowed Aidan to pick what he wanted. At first, he showed no interest, and I thought we would leave with no new animals in hand. That is, until Aidan spotted the stuffing machine. He wanted to stuff an animal. He picked out a dog. Or maybe Mom and I picked out the dog and convinced him he would like it. Either way, he got a dog.

After stuffing it, he put in a heart and four leaf clover, you know, since it was St. Patty's Day and all. Then he gave his dog a bath.

When we got to the birth certificate part, I asked him what he wanted to name the dog, expecting Big Doggie or Daddy Dog or something along those lines, but Aidan immediately said, "Ruffy."Mom was willing to buy Ruffy some clothes, but Aidan said no to everything. I thought for sure he'd go for the fireman or police man outfits, but no. Finally, he settled on pajamas. Star Wars pajamas. Josh is okay with this dog solely for that reason, as I might add he has thought it not so smart an idea from the beginning to try to replace the lovies Aidan already has in place. We will be returning the other bunny I mentioned, by the way. It may have taken a little convincing on Grammy's, Mommy's, and Daddy's parts, but Aidan eventually succumbed to the idea of a new animal. However, not in the way I had hoped. Rather than ditching his other 3 animals in favor of his newer and bigger and prettier Ruffy, he simply added Ruffy to the mix.

*sigh* Welcome to the herd, Ruffy.