tale of two winnies

Britton has a stuffed "lovey/blankie/security object" consisting of a Winnie-the-Pooh head sewn to a little blankie. To say that Britton loves her Winnie is an understatement. Britton adores her Winnie, never willingly separating for more than a few minutes. In fact, the approximate hour it takes to wash and dry Winnie is a nightmare for her, the addiction controlling her mind and mood until she gets it back in her hot little hands.

And it just so happens that I got this Winnie from my co-workers at one of my baby showers. Approximately eight months after said baby shower, Britton deemed Winnie the love of her life. Approximately seven months after Target stopped carrying it, along with the entire line of the Classic Disney stuff available when I had registered. The hub and I knew that the clock was ticking towards disaster. Your kid can't have a prized possession like that and it never gets lost, never gets left at the store, never meets an horrific end with a lawn mower.

And Britton has made Winnie earn her love. She drags it everywhere. She sucks on the little blanket part, even with a mouth full of food. We wash it when we can, but the stains won't get out. And the smell, dear God the smell, of that thing after a long week will burn your nose hair. Winnie is, quite frankly, gross.




So, trying to avoid the parenting mistake of not being 100% COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY PREPARED, I began scouring the internet for a substitute. And I found one I thought was identical. When it showed up in the mail, we inspected it and found that it was NOT the same. The Winnie head was ever so slightly different, and Britton promptly dismissed it from her life. We now refer to that Winnie as "Imposter Winnie" and it is rarely spoken of in our house.

I gave it one last go this past week. I googled it, trying every keyword I could think of. And I finally found it. On Ebay. For four times what it was priced at two years ago.

But it was blue.



I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but Winnie is pink. Or at least was pink. Cammy was under the impression Winnie is beige. Regardless, it IS NOT BLUE. But I figured, hey, I can remove the blue blanket and sew in Imposter Winnie's blanket and she'll never know the difference.

Well, it arrived yesterday and the hub automatically gave it to Britton, without consulting me and my overly-intricate plan about switching the blankets. And you know what?

She accepted it without question. She has been dragging New Winnie around but hasn't started chewing on it yet. And while I am relieved that we have a back-up to her lovey object of affection, part of me is a little sad that she so easily moved on from her first love. The hub says that I am playing with fire if I bring Winnie back into the mix, but I may just have to switch them back and put New Winnie in its hiding place, to come out if Original Winnie goes missing. Fine, maybe I'm the one holding onto it, maybe it's because I know how much she loves it and I want her to always have it. And just because the new one is pretty and clean doesn't mean it's better. The Old Winnie doesn't need replacing because it hasn't gone anywhere.

Because even though it's stained and stinky and ragged and faded, it's still Winnie.