Stuffed Animals

A few years ago, Leslie forwarded me something our mom forwarded to her from her journal. This journal entry was from when Leslie was just a few months away from turning 4 (in fact, she was the exact same age Joseph is now).

And it was darling. She talked about how Leslie loved her friends, how expansive her vocabulary was, and how much she loved Sunbeams.

But my favorite part was where she listed Leslie's dolls named Kara, Tessa, Pessa, Kessa, and Courtney-tight.

Although you shouldn't make comparisons of any kind, I was curious for a few years if Joseph would name his stuffed animals the same way.

After all, there is no doubt that he loves them.

He wanted to be sure they would not be left behind on our move across Northwood

This was Noah's ark

I believe they are playing Chutes and Ladders in this picture.

But for all the love he had, he hadn't done much in the way of naming them.

"What's your bear named?"

"Um, Bear."

"What's your elephant named?"

"Elephant."

"What's your meerkat named?"

"Meerkat."

The closest we got was with a dog he christened "Puppy."

But then something changed. We asked him what his bear was named, and he said "Gurold." And it stuck! When we asked him other animals' names, he would say something random, but at least they had names.

After a few months of trying different names out, I think this is where we have converged.

The bear is named Gurold. (Or maybe grrr-old.)

The tiger is named Purr-old.

The dog is named Fur-old.

The meerkat is named Mur-old.

And the elephant is Gerald. (Thank you, Mo Willems.)

As far as I know, Leslie no longer plays with Kessa, Pessa, Tessa, or Courtney-Tight. So Joseph will also outgrow his animals someday, too.

When that day comes, it will be fun to see what Matthew chooses to name them.