Time Out

Baby Seal, Baby Polar Bear and Leppy the snow leopard (shhh...don't tell him it's a tiger)


Harrison is a pretty fickle kid when it comes to toys. He has his favorites, but goes through phases: Legos for awhile, then he'll play with his construction vehicles for awhile, then it will be his helicoptor or airplane. However, when it comes to things a person cuddles with, he is very set in his ways.

Baby Seal is still at our house and still a favorite. Santa brought Baby Polar Bear in hopes that Baby Seal could be returned to his rightful owner. This did not happen. It actually strengthened the bond between Harry and Baby Seal and now we have two LARGE animals dragged around our small abode.

Leppy was given to Harrison, when he was about 18 months old, by my mom. She found an adorable snow leopard puppet at the Naples Zoo. It instantly was named "Leppy" and was his favorite toy until about last October when Leppy disappeared. We still have no idea where he is, but Harry was pretty sad. Because of all the craziness in December and November, I found myself shopping for most of the kids' Christmas gifts in a 24 hour time span. I found this white stuffed tiger and in my shopping/grief stricken haze thought it was a leopard. I wrapped him up and Harry was thrilled to get him. He instantly yelled, "Leppy" ( I guess we were both easily mistaken!)

It now has become Harrison's hobby to "collect" stuffed animals from the arctic. He wants a penguin, a walrus, etc. We probably won't give him too many more as he is having trouble carrying all of these around - and the more he gets, the more chance of losing one right before bedtime when he demands they are all in bed with him.

I think his attachment to these animals is cute, but more than that I finally have something meaningful to take away from him when I can't get him to follow directions or listen to me. "If you don't____, I'll take baby Seal away." This works 90% of the time. Some times I even have to take away the other two. Then he knows he's really in trouble.