Meet Bear H

Every parent dreams about their child's birthday, especially when they kinda understand it for the first time. This was the case with me for the last week or so as I thought of something that would be memorable and special for Kara's second birthday.

Saturday morning, July 17th we headed off on a family excursion to Build a Bear for the birthday girls surprise. I was so excited as I thought of the joy she would have picking out and animal and watching it get stuffed with life and lots of stuffing! I thought about how she would pick out some fun clothes for it, and dress it in her choice of apparel. I thought about how we would choose a name for it, and head home with her new best friend!

It was going to be great!

Now for the real story! We pulled up and got Kara out of her car seat. She started to cry because I took away the cheap and old bear she had brought along with her that came from who knows where. I explained that we were going to get a new bear and that she was going to get it in the cool store with the bears all over the front! She cheered up as we entered the store and saw all the toys. After a few minutes of debating who would be lucky enough to be stuffed and sent home with us, we settled on a white, fluffy, lovable, little bear.

Suddenly with a look of horror, Kara saw all the animals of the other children getting stuffed! With a look of absolute dread on her face, she let out a loud and terrifying wail for the whole store to hear! I wondered what could possibly be the matter! Here we were picking out a new toy and she way screaming! She started to say something and as I listened I heard her say, "hurt!" Why was she saying this? I had no idea so we proceeded to stand in line to stuff her new bear and hope that she calmed down as she saw it get bigger.

We walked up to the "stuffer lady" and handed her our flat little friend. As she placed it on the fluffer and turned on the machine, Kara began her sobbing yet again. "Hurt!" she cried! It was then that my wise husband realized that she was afraid for her bear! All this time she had been upset about the bears being stuffed, she thought they were getting hurt! Something I thought would be so special was instead so scary to a little 2 year old!

After her bear was done in the torture chamber we headed over to clothe it. We picked out a little shirt that had a cupcake and said "Happy Birthday." By this time she was way past her limit and was still crying, I guess when you see bears get stuffed it has this effect on you. We headed over to the computer to create the birth certificate to our new friend and sat down to choose a name. "What would you like to name your bear Kara?" I waited for her response, knowing it would be something entertaining. "Bear H" she said with a still sad voice, and so with that we named it Bear H. Why she wanted to name it Bear H, or where she even came up with that in her sweet little head is beyond my imagination, but I was not about to say no. And so the birth certificate says Bear H.

Now that the trauma is over and Bear H is home safe and sound, I am glad we went. Despite the fact that she screamed the whole time, she is now completely obsessed with Bear H and carries her around everywhere. She has given the bear the nickname H and loves it with all her heart!

That is the story of Bear H and how we rescued her from the scary, stuffer and gave her a happy home and a very doting mother :)