Buddy

Do you have a doll/toy/game that your kids love, but you just can't stand? That's Buddy in our house.

When Hope was little, I used to go to garage sales on Saturday mornings. This was back when only having one child who wasn't in sports yet allowed me the luxury of having a whole day off to do whatever I wanted.

Hope must have been 18 months or so, when she saw Buddy. Her face lit up when she hugged him, so I couldn't say No and Buddy came home with us. She named him and carried him everywhere--he was as big as her when he first came to live at our house. Buddy has the nappiest hair of any doll I have ever seen--someone once said he kinda looked like Chucky. At one point, when she wasn't as attached to Buddy, Brian hid him. A few months later, she found him and once again, started carrying him everywhere (he even took a road trip with us once to Missouri).

Hope eventually outgrew Buddy and he ended up in a bag with a bunch of her other stuffed animals that we planned to give away. Somehow, that bag didn't make it to Goodwill and Caroline discovered Buddy. I don't know if he had magic powers, but she was also immediately drawn to him and started carrying him everywhere--just as Hope used to do.

Buddy disappears for months at a time and all-of-a-sudden he reappears--usually being carried by one of the girls. I still don't know what the fascination is, but they were fighting over him tonight (until Caroline found another nappy-haired doll and they had a tea party).

There are some things you do, just because. Keeping Buddy is one of those "just because" things at our house. This is the parenting stuff the books don't tell you about. True parenting is allowing ugly dolls to sit next to you at the dinner table.