Pax Is Just A Stuffed Toy

There was once a day when I could talk my way in and out of almost anything with short and age appropriate explanations and reasoning. I could even use my child's personification of inanimate objects to get her to do something. Not so much these days.

Now all I hear is, "Why's that?" or "what does that mean?" While these can be answered one right after the other with ease at the beginning of the day, patience starts to wear thin at the end. But, we are working through them and I'm learning a new parenting skill on how to say anything but the ultimate mummy mantra "...because I told you so" or "...just stop with the questions already."

When she told me Pax (a huge Panda the kids get to home from her pre-school as part of a group exercise) was just a "stuffed toy" I was stunned into silence. For years, since she could first talk, all her "stuffed toys" had names with their own personalities, likes and dislikes. Now Pax is just a "stuffed toy" without emotions or a care in the world of where he sits, eats or sleeps.

This afternoon she initiated a tossing of "stuffed toys". We filled up a whole laundry hamper of stuffed toys. At the beginning of the project I was quite excited that we would be finding new homes for them, but as the laundry hamper bag started to overflow I quietly and silently protested some of her choices.

I couldn't toss "Birthday Doggie" away -- a toy we picked out together on her third birthday. It was just the two of us and it kinda felt like a last hurrah before sweet Ryan arrived on the scene.
I couldn't toss "Blue-e" -- her first dino that sat so proudly on top of her presents for her second Christmas, blue-e was loved so much in his first few years. It was a favorite for quite sometime.
I couldn't toss "Julia-Gulia", her first dolly from Grandma either. Way too sentimental.

My baby girl is growing up. I am sad. I am happy. And I am all the things in between. She is still Maggie though. Complete with all her classic Maggie observations and continuous throng of questions. In the car today we were talking about germs and why its important to wash hands when she said something to the affect of, "... oh I know. The sperm gets us sick, then leaves us and gets other people sick. That's how it happens." Thinking I had heard her wrong or that she had misspoken I said, "Do you mean germs Maggie?" Her reply --"No mummy, I mean sperm. Sperm is what makes people sick."