Lilly and Piggy

When my first two children were small, my younger sister worked in the gift shop of a motel. Every time we saw her she gave my kids Beanie Babies. We ended up with piles and piles of stuffed animals. For some reason, neither Neal nor Amberly really appreciated all the cute little critters. Unless, of course, I threatened to throw them away--then, they LOVED them all and couldn't part with a single one.

Several years later, Lilly really does love the plush little friends. She carts around the giraffe and the zebra. The next day she's hugging the lamb, cow, and penguin. But her very favorite one--the one she must have in bed; the one she pushes in her stroller; the one she drags every where and the one that needs frequent baths in the washing machine is the pink pig. She calls it "Piggy". Piggy is often cold at night and has to be covered just right. I don't know how many hours I've retraced Lilly's daily adventures to find the little pig at bed time.

It's not terribly surprising that she picked the pig to be her best friend. She loves pink. She loves farm books. She loves the movie "Charlotte's Web" (the newer one).  The little pig from her Fisher Price Little People farm sometimes joins her on her activities. It's rather cute.

Just like most kids, all my kids have had something special that they especially loved. Neal has a blue fleece blanket with his name embroidered on it. It's been washed so many times and it's really pretty gross now but he insists that it stay in his bed. (I never did let him carry it around.) Amberly has a little doll named "Babya" that she keeps in her bed. Thomas picked a nubby little brown bear named "Fozzy" that he lovingly drags around by its floppy neck. (Fortunately Fozzy has a twin brother named Fuzzy that lives with the grandparents.) And now Lilly has "Piggy".

I suppose I can indulge her and make sure that Piggy is carefully covered up each night. I really don't mind.