Eek! A Bear!

[marydell]

Tonight Charlie (age almost 11 months) just noticed that there is a bear in his room. He spent some of the evening staring at it with mute apprehension.  I put it on the floor and sat him down near it for a while so he could look, and while he's not flipping out like he did with the dog, he's definitely not trusting Mr. Panda. (Mr. Panda will get a proper Panda name when Charlie is old enough to help pick one; for now he is either Mr. Panda or "Wolong.") Despite, ya know, having shared a room with him for basically his entire life.


(Charlie age 6 months or thereabouts, unaware that he is leaning on a predator graminivore.)

The bear has been moved from the top of the toy chest to the floor next to the chest, to make him seem less imposing, and to give Charlie a chance to encounter him at floor level when he's crawling around, or steer clear, as he chooses.  Of course, to me the bear is a toy, but to Charlie, he's as real as Shortie, which is the whole point of having a teddy bear friend when you're little.  So I want to encourage his viewing the bear as a complex being rather than a piece of furniture; even if its personality is really just an extension of himself.  But I also don't want him to feel afraid when he's in his own room, so if he doesn't make friends with it in a day or two, I'll have to relocate Mr. Panda to the living room for a while. He can be scared of him there if he wants :)

Fortunately, once I put him in his crib, he stopped noticing the bear and went right to sleep without any tragic looks, so I think they'll be ok in there together for the night.

Ah, infant development.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I still get weirded out randomly, so I feel for Charlie, but oh, my word, I am overwhelmed by the adorability of this story. And that picture.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I remember being 9 and thinking, from my bed in the dark, that a pile of clothes on my chair looked like a jaguar, and couldn't sleep until I rearranged it extensively. So I anticipate years of weirdness to come!

He is a cute little schnookums, isn't he?

[readinggeek451]

When I was about three, I decided that the shadow at the foot of my older brother's bed at night was a bear curled up, and I was scared of it. Not to the point of mentioning it to anyone, I don't think, just cautious and needing to keep an eye on it.