When I was pregnant with my second child, I prepared for her like she was going to behave exactly as my son did.  Many of you know this did not help me welcome her little personality into the world at all because she is way different.

My son hated pacifiers and she loves them.  She is subtle and my son is blunt and over the top.  My son was suspicious of solid food well into his first year and she loves to eat.  Colic, no colic.  And on and on and on.

I’ve heard so many parents talk about “loveys”  and my son never had one so I didn’t get the big deal.  But now?  Now my girl has become attached to a stuffed animal that she calls “Monkey”  (clearly she is smart because the stuffed animal is, in fact, a monkey).

Monkey was bought at Pier 1 a few years before she was born so when she found it stuffed in some corner of the house and fell in love and started dragging Monkey everywhere, I got worried.  What happens when Monkey goes to that big rain forest in the sky?  Monkey’s already looking beat to hell so I went to Pier 1, hoping they still sold them and they do.  I was so damn excited that I bought two big ones and one baby monkey Just In Case.

She wants nothing to do with the new monkeys, she only wants The Original Monkey.

Figures.

A dramatic interpretation of my thoughts as we drove away from Pier 1 with three new monkeys.