The Bear

Everyone knows Sam loves bears.  All bears...grizzly, black, koala, polar.  He doesn't discriminate.  He has a ridiculous amount of stuffed bears and plastic bear figurines.  But one bear stands out among the rest. His favorite bear.  A small, plastic grizzly bear that came from Target.  He refers to it as "my favorite bear" and takes it everywhere he goes.  The bear is literally in his hand 75 % of the time and when he isn't, he's asking, "Mommy, where's my favorite bear?  I need him."  I have spent countless hours searching for him when he goes missing and have turned around more times than I care to admit to retrieve him from the house when we forget him.  Sam panics when he can't find him and has learned to do almost anything with that little bear clutched tightly in his hand.  He gets dressed holding him, pees with him (I know, really sanitary) and even eats with him secure in his fist.  The bear gets a nightly bath with Sam and is beginning to lose his color from being scrubbed so much.  I even have to smell, yes smell, the plastic bear after baths to make sure he smells wonderful.  The bear accompanies us to the park, the pool, on errands and even when we're just hanging out in the yard.  Safely tucked in his hand, where Sam goes, he goes.  I guess it's his "lovey."  And like any smart Mom, I should find a few replacement "lovies," you know, just in case.  So I'm adding that to my "to do" list...buy more bears and nearly scrub their color off to match the real one.  I'm putting it at the top of my list.