Eek! A Bear!
May. 14th, 2009 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marydellTonight 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 apredator 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.
(Charlie age 6 months or thereabouts, unaware that he is leaning on a
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.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-05-16 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-16 09:38 pm (UTC)Cute overload, definitely. I'm trying to get a video of Charlie petting the bear, since he's progressed to that stage.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-17 02:20 am (UTC)