Foster Animals (Stuffed Ones)

I've had a couple friends who take in foster kittens from time to time. We haven't been ambitious enough for that yet, but we're working our way up with stuffed animals.

A couple weeks ago I picked up two stuffed animals for my sister-in-law to use under the tree she does for Vacaville's festival of trees. I tried keeping them hidden from the kids, but it was no use. They found the little bunny and dolphin, and were in instant bliss. It was too perfect, two animals and two kids. So Kate befriended the bunny and Danny adopted the dolphin. I warned them they were not staying with us, but it made no difference, they showered all their love and affection on those animals for the night. They named them and made them leashes out of ribbon, went on adventures around the house with them, then eventually watched a movie with one tucked under each kid's arm, and then took them off to bed to fall asleep with one under each kid's covers. Stuffed animals seem to have this unexplainable effect. It's just stuffing and furry polyester, right? But any time Kate sleeps in her own room (often she sleeps on Danny's trundle) she insists on having her teddy bear to keep her safe. And when Danny yells out in the middle of the night, "Mama, I have a bad feeling!" his stuffed dog is one of my first lines of action to try to get him to calm down and go to sleep.

I think any one who's been a parent for a while has some malice towards stuffed animals. Every kid seems to have so many of them, and for my part I don't even know how to keep them all in the house at once any more. But despite all this, it's hard to blame someone for giving them another stuffed animal, for adding to the collection. Because when else in a child's life will you get a chance to give them a gift like this, that ends up being their companion on make-believe adventures and that can save them from all the terrors of a dark bedroom and a vivid imagination?