Emma's UNI Teddy

Okay, so I sent a photo of Emma from Shutterfly to my blog (see previous post), not knowing what was going to happen, so I figure I'd better explain!

When Emma was probably 8 or 9 months old I took her to Cedar Falls to visit my college roommate and great friend Mindy and her husband Matt, who is also a great friend. It was UNI's homecoming weekend, so we attended the parade and walked around campus a little bit. Mindy ended up buying Emma the tshirt she has on in the picture and the cute little UNI teddy bear as well. As you can see in the picture, Emma loved this teddy bear. After our move to Des Moines, however, her UNI teddy just got thrown in with all her other stuffed animals and dolls.

Over the next couple of years Emma didn't really have a favorite stuffed animal or doll to speak of. We've always considered her our little social butterfly, and this holds true with her toys as well!!

A few weeks back Emma kept seeing a commercial on tv for some Tinkerbell toy. It's cute, but she thought it was absolutely amazing! I told her that if she wanted this toy, she would have to earn it. Yes, you can teach a 4 year old the concept of earning your keep. Anyway, a friend of mine and I had decided that we were going to have a garage sale. What better way for Emma to earn money (or for Mommy to get rid of some clutter) than to sort through her toys and get rid of some!! She wasn't too hip at first, but shortly after telling her she could have all the money she made, she was suddenly gung ho!!

Emma must have heard her Daddy use the word remove several times because as we were going through her toys she was telling me whether she wanted to keep them or "remove" them. It was cute! Anyway, so we get to her UNI teddy bear, which I might add hasn't really come out of hibernation much since moving to Des Moines. She gave me this shocked look and exclaimed, "No Mommy, we just can't remove that! She's my favorite!" So the UNI teddy got thrown back in the pile of stuffed animals, me of course expecting another season for hibernation!

Emma gets to take a stuffed animal or doll or whatever to Pre-K with her for nap time. Last week I asked her to go grab whatever it was she was going to take and out of her room she came with her UNI Teddy. And since that day, she has slept with her old friend just about every night. She still loves that teddy even after all this time!

So what's my point?? I guess it's that even at the age of 4, even if you make new friends many of us still find comfort in our old friends. It's like your favorite t-shirt. You can always buy a new one, but nothing compares to the feeling of wearing that ratty old t-shirt that your husband wants to rip into shreds because there are so many holes in it!! So to all of my new friends and my old friends, I thank you for just being my friend and for loving me just as I am!!!