Stuffed animal vetrinarian

I can't count the number of stuffed animals I have done "surgery" on in my lifetime. Between my own stuffies, and those of my sisters, it was fairly common occurrence once I figured out how to use a needle and thread (and my mother would let me).

Of course, once we "grew out" of our stuffies (do girls ever really grow out of them??), it became something that was more and more rare.

Well, Erin is a true girl. Not only that but she is a young girl, and I don't know what it is about little kids, but they're really hard on their stuffies. So I have, again, taken up my role as the stuffy vet.

Last night was a particular tragedy. The patient in question was the Panda Puppy. And the story behind the name is also the story as to why I am so attached.

A couple days after we lost Cora, Matt and I went to Walmart. This particular trip was to return the packages of diapers and wipes that we had purchased in the few weeks leading up, preparing for her birth. So, you can probably understand that I wasn't in the most rational frame of mind. There was a couple outside the front door giving away puppies. I wanted one so badly. I guess it was all the unused maternal instinct. I needed something small to take care of. I pleaded and begged, and Matt, being the rational one he is, gently reminded me that it was in our housing contract that we wouldn't have pets. And, unlike I kept protesting, you can't hide a lab-mix puppy very long. I was devastated all over again, (to be honest, I was already devastated, but I think that magnified it into something huge) and ended up in tears. Matt agreed as we were leaving the store, that our particular circumstance was one in which it was probably common for people to get puppies. But he reassured me that it was the right thing not to take one.

The next day, he came home from work with a stuffed panda. He said that he was going to get me a stuffed puppy, but not only was the panda much cuter than the puppies, it was also cheaper. So she was christened the "Panda Puppy."

Well, she's one of Erin's favorites, so it shouldn't have been too surprising to me when I discovered the gaping hole in her side yesterday. In actuality, her hind leg was coming off. So I immediately went to my sewing box, and pulled out a needle and thread and went to work. Well, Erin took offense to this and started screaming and trying to pull her away from me. Matt had to take her into another room and play with her for 10 minutes until I was done.

But now everyone is safe and happy and all in one piece. Hopefully the stuffies stay that way for a while.