Arlington

In late November or early December of 2010, Grumma, The Hubbs and I ventured to a suburban horse racing track for one of the biggest craft fairs in the area while The Princess hung out with Grumpa for the day.  The mission: to get a little bit of exercise and finish up the Christmas shopping.

The Hubbs and I had already procured presents for our folks and siblings, and the only remaining question mark on our list was The Princess.  This was before we started our newest gift-giving ritual for her, and we weren't really sure what we wanted to give her.  There's always the question of how much she understands about these events, along with the fact that she had yet to get into the excitement of opening gifts.

Since she was an itty-bitty thing, The Princess has had special relationships with certain toys or stuffies.  First, it was Piglet from Winnie the Pooh.  One of my good friends from the train I rode while I was pregnant sent an adorable stuffed Piglet home with me for her before she was even born.  If you press his tummy, he'll "sing" Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  "Pig" was the first sign she ever really picked up on her own and used appropriately without prompting.

After Piglet came the ducks.  Stuffed, embroidered on a onesie dress, bath toys, puppets, you name it.  This girl loves her ducks.  So much so that this was one of her first words somewhere between 9 and 12 months of age.  Back when she had words, that is.

And then came the giraffes.  Grumma's cousin gave The Princess a Lamaze giraffe with all sorts of fun stuff on him at the baby shower, and Raffie the giraffe has been a favorite for as long as I can remember.  You may remember the story of Bah the giraffe as well.

When The Princess latches onto a friend, they're in the club for good.  She doesn't seem to want new stuff, and we've taken advantage of that for as long as we have been able.  Christmas, though, was not a time when we didn't want to give her anything.  It just didn't seem right.

So there we were, combing the craft fair for anything that screamed her name.  I had all but given up when Grumma and I turned a corner to come face to face with the most adorable giraffe Pillow Pet.  I'd never seen this one before, and he called out to me.  He was carefully placed (butt-first, with his head hanging out for air so he could still breathe) into a plastic bag, and I proceeded to cart him out of there.

Our new pal, Arlington the giraffe, resided under the Christmas tree, carefully wrapped with airholes (of course), until bright and early Christmas morning.  This was when The Princess tore into his wrapping and proceeded to drop him on the floor, choosing the oh-so-irresistably rippable paper over the actual gift inside.

I've talked to Arlington many times over the months since Christmas, assuring him that she'll love him...he just needs to give her time.

And, seemingly overnight, he's in the club.  Arlington and The Princess, The Princess and Arlington, they're like this.