it runs in the family

The boys have had a couple of baby dolls since they were about 18 months old, and played with them on and off, but mostly they've used their stuffed animals, called "stuffies" at our house, for domestic-related role play. Dinosaurs having meals, an owl and a teddie bear coming over for lunch, that sort of thing. They adore their stuffed animals, and treat them with tender care. Lately, though, they've been talking more about babies, and how they're going to become daddies when they grow up, and they've been paying a bit more attention to their 2 dolls. Ol*iver in particular, says these two are his twins, named "Pinky" and "Stinky". I find it interesting that he named his twins after two of his very favorite things: the color pink, and all things potty-talk related...


No*ah, for his part, took Stinky's dress off and put it on one of his bunny stuffed animals (not one of the 2 favorites, but another one he quite likes). He added a jingle bell collar, and was quite proud of the ensemble. He's back to devotedly carrying his 2 favorite bunnies around, but he also now has "Pretty Lady Bunny", and tells me she's "lovely".

When the kids aren't around, we may or may not have been known to refer to the pretty lady by the less genteel term "Bondage Bunny". Below is the pretty lady in her natural state. Now, some of you already know this, but my mother-in-law K*athy killed a bunny a few years ago by throwing a hose attachment at it to shoo it out of her garden. She hit it right between the eyes, and it fell over dead. She did essentially the same thing to a squirrel years before that. She was probably the one that got picked first for the church softball games, don't you think?

Last summer, I stopped by with the boys to water Kathy's garden or something, and as we were leaving, I notice this bunny still lying on her front walk. I almost picked it up to take it back home, but instead, I wrote "the bunny killer strikes again", and left the note and the bunny on the sidewalk. She was, thankfully, appreciative of my twisted sense of humor.

Slightly inappropriate fun with dolls and stuffed animals: that's our family. I admit we are easily amused.